Rotational energy distributions in molecule surface scattering: Model calculations for NO/Ag(111)

✍ Scribed by J.A. Barker; A.W. Kleyn; D.J. Auerbach

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 400 KB
• Volume: 97
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(83)87173-5

✦ Synopsis

Classical trajectory and quantum-mechanical calculations of final rot&ional stale distributions are described for a simple model of the scattering of NO from A&l 11) which show strong effects of rotational rainbow% The quantum-mechanical calcularion reproduces the gcncral trends of the experimental data quite well. The classical calculation is qualitatively and quantitatively inadequate. an inadequacy which is rcrnarkablc in view of the large masses of the particles and the high dcgrcc of rotational excitstion. Recent laser-induced fluorescence studies of molecular beams scattering from single crystal surfaces have given information on the rotational [l-7] and electronic [5] energy distributions of the molecules after scattering. For the case of NO scattering from Ag(l1 l), Kleyn et al. [3] were able to show that for high beam energies (=OS eV) the measured rotational energy disttibuticns were strongly non-Boltzmann and resulted from direct inelastic scattering. A broad peak was observed for high rotational states and tentatively interpreted [3] asa rotational rainbow [8]. We will concentrate our attention on thissystem since the non-