Scattering of metallic beams from insulator solid-surfaces : Cd/NaCl (100)

Abstract

Scattering of a cadmium beam from (100) NaCl surface has been studied in ultra-high vacuum. The existence of the quasi-specular lobe observed in the early studies on scattering of neutral atoms from solid surfaces, around 1930 by Ellet et al., is confirmed. The dependence of the angular position of the quasi-specular lobe as a function of either the substrate temperature or the beam temperature was qualitatively demonstrated by Ellet et al., but their quantitative measurements were erroneous because of the contamination of their surface by cleaving the crystals in the air and by the poor vacuum during the experiments. The precise measurements of the position of the lobe, performed in UHV, are in good agreement with the predictions of the « soft-cube » model