A variety of novel applications for the investigation of disordered surfaces by beams of thermal energy atoms are discussed and illustrated by numerous examples. A straightforward semiclassical approach is introduced to yield a remarkably detailed insight into the lateral distributions of diffuse scatterers such as adsorbates, vacancies and atomic steps. The recent discovery that the long range Van der Waals force is the cause of the unusually large cross-sections for diffuse He-scattering on individual defects and impurities led the authors to propose a new methods of surface analysis. They introduce a semiclassical method, the overlap approach, to give a simple and detailed description of He-scattering from disordered surfaces. The method yields subtle, otherwise hardly obtainable information on the nature of interactions between diffuse scatterers. The authors address such questions as the lateral distribution of adsorbates, two-dimensional phase transitions, surface diffusions, and the morphology of growing or sputtered layers.

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Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Scattering of Thermal Energy Atoms
Book Subtitle: from Disordered Surfaces
Editors: Bene Poelsema, George Comsa
Series Title: Springer Tracts in Modern Physics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0045229
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1989
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-662-15091-7Published: 03 October 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-3-540-45983-5Published: 11 April 2006
Series ISSN: 0081-3869
Series E-ISSN: 1615-0430
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 110
Number of Illustrations: 14 b/w illustrations
Topics: Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics, Surfaces and Interfaces, Thin Films, Physical Chemistry, Crystallography and Scattering Methods

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

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