Book Description
The adiabatic approximation is widely applied to describe interactions of atoms and molecules with solid surfaces. It assumes that the electronic system stays in the lowest-energy ground state during the interaction and energy is exclusively distributed via lattice vibrations in the solid. However, in case of light hydrogen atoms, it predicts inefficient energy transfer to the atoms of heavier solids, contradicting experimental findings of inelastic H atom scattering from germanium surfaces. Germanium is an elemental semiconductor and, unlike frequently studied metals, does not have partly-...