Finite Debye-Waller Factor for 'Classical' Atom-Surface Scattering

Abstract

We consider atom-surface scattering at low surface temperature, fixed incident energy and fixed interaction potential. We examine the limit as the mass m of the incident particle, and thus its de Broglie wavelength. We show that in this classical limit, the Debye-Waller factor (a quantum effect) for the strictly elastic scattering amplitude tends to a finite limit. We propose scattering of 20 MeV Ar atoms from cold Cu(111) as a promising experiment to verify this effect.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA224300

Entities

People

  • K. Burke
  • W. Kohn

Organizations

  • University of California, Santa Barbara

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • California
  • Crystal Lattices
  • Diffraction
  • Elastic Scattering
  • Elastic Waves
  • Elements
  • Equations
  • Frequency
  • Inelastic Scattering
  • Long Wavelengths
  • Morse Potential
  • New Jersey
  • Physics
  • Scattering
  • Three Dimensional
  • Transfer Functions
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Molecular Photonics/Laser Physics
  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing