Fast Atom Diffraction at Surfaces

Abstract

Recently pronounced diffraction effects for grazing scattering of fast light atoms and molecules with energies up to some keV under axial surface channeling were observed. The rich diffraction patterns provide information on the interatomic spacings between axial surface channels and on the corrugation of the interaction potential. The latter effect can be used to study the structure of surfaces with fast atoms via an interferometric technique. The new method shows similarities to thermal He atom scattering (HAS), but has a number of advantages as simple tuning of the projectile energy (de Broglie wavelength) and, in particular, an orders of magnitude more efficient detection of scattered projectiles. As an example for the application of Fast Atom Diffraction (FAD) for studies on the structure of surfaces, we present results for the rumpling of the LiF(001) surface. The quantum coherence in the scattering process is preserved by specific features of surface channeling which is investigated in detail via the coincident detection of the diffraction patterns with the energy loss of scattered atoms. It turns out that the suppression of electronic excitations owing to the band gap of insulator surfaces play a key role for coherent scattering and the application of FAD in surface science.