DIFFRACTION OF SWIFT N ATOMS FROM Ag(111) SURFACES

M.S. GRAVIELLE; G.A. BOCAN; R. DÍEZ MUIÑO

Gatlinburg

Workshop; 18th International Workshop on Inelastic Ion-Surface Collisions (IISC-18); 2010

IISC

Diffraction from crystal surfaces produced by grazingscattering of atoms in the keV energy range is nowadaysattracting considerable attention. The first experimentalevidences of this effect were reported for insulatorsurfaces [1] for which the presence of a band gap stronglysuppresses inelastic electronic processes, favoring theconservation of quantum coherence. However, thisdiffraction effect has recently been observed at metallicmaterials [2,3] as well, although electron excitations aresupposed to smudge interference signatures for thesesurfaces. The aim of this work is to study the atomicdiffraction from metal surfaces by considering keVnitrogen atoms impinging grazingly on Ag(111) .