Quantum reflection in the presence of dissipation

Abstract

We present a perturbation treatment of the scattering of low-energy long–de Broglie–wavelength electrons scattering from the surface of liquid helium in the presence of ripplonic effects. We analyze the problem in the so-called distorted-wave Born approximation and consider higher-order terms in perturbation theory. We show explicitly how quantum-mechanical effects enter in to modify the behavior of the reflection coefficient.