VAN DER WAALS INTERACTION BETWEEN ADSORBATE LAYERS/MOLECULES AND A SUBSTRATE

Abstract

We present a theoretical formulation of van der Waals (VdW)1-19 molecule-substrate attraction in which the second order vdW energy is explicitly exhibited as a correlation/self-energy of the molecular/atomic electrons generated by a dynamic nonlocal image potential due to polarization of the electrons of the bounded metal/semiconductor substrate in the electrostatic limit.20-23 This formulation can also be applied to the vdW interaction between an adsorbate layer and the substrate, as well as the interaction between layers. We have already applied it in the case of atom-surface vdW attraction in the presence of a normal magnetic field which induces both classical and Landau quantization magnetic effects,24 incorporating the role of dynamic and nonlocal plasma effects. The extension to multiple adsorbate layers and their mutual interactions as well as their attraction to the substrate is straightforward.25 The dependence of the atom/molecule-surface vdW energy on magnetic field strength provides an adjustable parametrization of the underlying zero-point photon energy (represented in terms of the nonretarded longitudinal plasmon-photons of the Coulomb interaction), opening the possibility of analyzing the concomitant fundamental quantum phenomenology in detail with material parameters that can be examined experimentally.