Elastic Interaction of Two Atoms Adsorbed on a Solid Surface
Abstract
The long-range interaction of two adsorbed atoms mediated by the elastic distortion of the substrate is calculated classically for an elastically isotropic substrate. For identical atoms, the interaction is repulsive; for different atoms, it can be repulsive or attractive. It varies as 1/rho cubed with the distance rho between the two adsorbed atoms. This is the same spatial dependence as for the dipole-dipole interaction between two adsorbed atoms. For two xenon atoms adsorbed on silver, the elastic interaction is about one order of magnitude smaller than the dipole-dipole interaction. The interaction energy is inversely proportional to the shear modulus of the substrate, so that it may become quite large near a distortive phase transition.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA030910
Entities
People
- Kin-Hing Lau
- Walter W. Kohn
Organizations
- University of California, San Diego