Energy transfer in the collision of an atom with a cold lattice

Abstract

We report numerically exact classical calculations on energy transfer and capture of an atom incident on an initially cold lattice in a collinear configuration. The lattice is harmonic and the adatom–surface interaction is a Morse potential. The system is completely specified in terms of only three physical parameters: the adatom-to-lattice-atom mass ratio, the ratio of the Morse interaction force constant to the lattice force constant, and the ratio of the incident energy to the Morse well depth (lattice–adatom binding energy). These exact calculations form a basis for comparing and testing several approximate dynamical models of gas–surface interactions.