The interaction of atoms and molecules with solid surfaces VII—The diffraction of atoms by a surface

Abstract

In the hands of Stern and his collaborators, an accurate technique has been evolved for the measurement of the intensities of reflected and diffracted beams of atoms from the surfaces of crystals, but surprisingly little use has been made of these results to deduce information of theoretical interest except to verify the validity of the de Broglie relation for atomic beams. In this paper we attempt a theory of the diffraction of atoms at surfaces with a view to finding explicit formulae for the intensities of diffracted beams in terms of the constants of the surface field in order that a comparison of the theory and experiment might yield information as to the magnitudes of these constants. A precise knowledge of surface fields would be of value in that it would make possible a calculation of other properties of atoms on surfaces, such as the adsorption and migration of adsorbed atoms, as has already been done in the preceding paper (Part VI) for helium on lithium fluoride.