Dissociative grazing scattering of H-2(+) on metal surfaces: Analysis of the high-energy parts of the spectra of the scattered molecule constituents

Abstract

In the present work we calculated the high energy tails of the energy distributions for hydrogen molecule constituents scattered from metal surfaces at grazing incidence of H-2(+), supposing the dissociative capture process to contribute mainly to H-2(+). No effect of the straggling on the high energy tails formation was considered. The harmonic oscillator approximation was employed for the calculation of the centre-of-mass distributions of the kinetic energy released in the dissociation process, ``vibrational temperature'' being the only free parameter of the theory. The comparison of the calculations with the experimental high-energy tails of the H spectra from the scattering of H-2(+) off Pt and Ag shows good agreement. The calculations yield information on the vibrational excitation of the molecules during the scattering process. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.