Classical theory for the in-plane scattering of atoms from corrugated surfaces: Application to the Ar–Ag(111) system

Abstract

A classical Wigner in-plane atom surface scattering perturbation theory within the generalized Langevin equation formalism is proposed and discussed with applications to the Ar-Ag(111) system. The theory generalizes the well-known formula of Brako as well as the "washboard model." Explicit expressions are derived for the joint angular and final momentum distributions, joint final energy, and angular distributions as well as average energy losses to the surface. The theory provides insight into the intertwining between the energy loss and angular dependence of the scattering. At low energies the energy loss in the horizontal direction is expected to be large, leading to a shift of the maximum of the angular distribution to subspecular angles, while at high energies the energy loss in the vertical direction dominates, leading to a superspecular maximum in the angular distribution. The same effect underlies the negative slope of the average final (relative) energy versus scattering angle at low energies which becomes positive at high energies. The theory also predicts that the full width at half maximum of the angular distribution varies as the square root of the temperature. We show how the theory provides insight into the experimental results for scattering of Ar from the Ag(111) surface.