Surface structure and lattice dynamics of KI(001) studied by high-resolution ion scattering combined with molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The rumpled surface structure and thermal lattice vibrations of KI(001) were studied by high-resolution medium-energy ion scattering (MEIS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The relaxation of the interlayer distance between the top and second layer and the rumpling of the top and second layers were measured directly by MEIS with an accuracy of 0.01 \AA{}. From the displaced lattice positions determined above, we derived the dipole moments of the top- and second-layer ${\mathrm{K}}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{I}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ions self-consistently using the polalizabilities estimated from the optical refractive index combined with the Clausius-Mossotti relation. The balance between a short-range force and a long-range Coulombic one made it possible to judge the applicability of the short-range pair potentials proposed so far. We also determined the root-mean-square thermal vibration amplitudes of the bulk and top-layer ions together with the correlations between the top- and second-layer ions by means of the ion shadowing effect applied to various kinds of scattering geometries. The results obtained were compared with those calculated from the MD simulations based on a semiclassical model using the dipole moments determined above and a Born-Mayer- or Hellmann-type pair potential. The present results are in overall agreement with the MD simulations employing the pair potential proposed by Catlow et al. [J. Phys. C 10, 1395 (1977)].