by Kieron Burke and W. Kohn
Abstract:
We consider atom-surface scattering at low surface temperature, fixed incident energy, and fixed interaction potential. We examine the limit as the mass m of the incident particle \textrightarrow$\infty$, and thus its de Broglie wavelength \textrightarrow0. We show that in this \textquoteleft\textquoteleftclassical\textquoteright\textquoteright limit, at zero temperature, the Debye-Waller factor, i.e., the probability of strictly elastic scattering (a quantum effect), tends to a finite limit (<1). We propose scattering of 20-meV Ar atoms from cold Cu(111) as a promising experiment to verify this effect, and estimate the Debye-Waller factor for this system.
Reference:
Finite Debye-Waller factor for "classical" atom-surface scattering Kieron Burke and W. Kohn, Phys. Rev. B 43, 2477-2489 (1991).
Bibtex Entry:
@article{BK91,
Pub-num = {004},
Abstract = {We consider atom-surface scattering at low surface temperature, fixed incident energy, and fixed interaction potential. We examine the limit as the mass m of the incident particle {\textrightarrow}$\infty$, and thus its de Broglie wavelength {\textrightarrow}0. We show that in this {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}classical{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} limit, at zero temperature, the Debye-Waller factor, i.e., the probability of strictly elastic scattering (a quantum effect), tends to a finite limit (<1). We propose scattering of 20-meV Ar atoms from cold Cu(111) as a promising experiment to verify this effect, and estimate the Debye-Waller factor for this system.},
Author = {Kieron Burke and W. Kohn},
Date-Modified = {2013-02-12 00:16:04 +0000},
Doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.43.2477},
Journal = {Phys. Rev. B},
Month = {Feb},
Number = {4},
Pages = {2477-2489},
Publisher = {American Physical Society},
Title = {Finite Debye-Waller factor for ``classical" atom-surface scattering},
Volume = {43},
Year = {1991},
url = {http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.2477},
publisher = {American Physical Society},
Bdsk-Url-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.2477}}