Electron loss of H atoms induced by resonant coherent interaction with LiF(100)

P. N. ABUFAGER, M. L. MARTIARENA, V. H. PONCE AND R. D. RIVAROLA

Pucon, Chile

Congreso; Latin American Congress of Surface Science ant its Applications; 2003

When an ion or atom interacts with a crystal under channeling conditions it experiences the periodic crystal-lattice potential as an oscilatory perturbation. Moreover, if one of the harmonics of this perturbation coincides with the energy difference between the actual electronic state of the projectile and some other state, transitions can occur connecting both states. In the case of swift projectiles, the transition involves a final bound state and this effect is known as resonant coherent excitation (RCE)[1]. The first observation of RCE obtained for the scattering of fast atomic projectiles from the surface of an insulator (LiF(100)) was reported by C. Auth et al.[2]. In a similar way, if the impact velocity of the projectile is large enough the bound electron can be promoted to a continuum state giving rise an electron loss process which is called resonant coherent loss (RCL). This process was studied theoretically by Garc\'{\i }a de Abajo et al. [3] for different projectiles on W(100) surfaces. In this work we study the RCL of H atoms impinging on a LiF(100) surface along the (100) channel under grazing-incidence. [1] V.V. Okorokov, JETP Lett. 2 (1965) 111. [2] C. Auth, A. Mertens, H. Winter, A. G. Borisov and F.J. Garcia de Abajo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79 22 (1997) 4477. [3] F. J. Garcia de Abajo, V. H. Ponce and P. M. Echenique, Phys. Rev. B 49 (1994) 3232.