Resonant heating in photodesorption via laser-adsorbate coupling

Abstract

Based on the master equation for photodesorption of molecules by resonant laser-molecular vibrational coupling and on the equation of heat conduction, we calculate the heating of the solid through transfer of laser energy resonantly absorbed in the internal vibration of the adsorbed molecule. For the system C${\mathrm{H}}_{3}$F on NaCl we find that for large laser intensity resonant heating can raise the surface temperature by some 30% for realistic surface-potential parameters. The desorption time, being mainly laser induced and not thermal, changes only by at most a factor of 2-3 as a result of resonant heating.