Kilo-electron-volt Ar–ion-induced neutral atom desorption from Rh{331}: Relation of angular distributions to surface structure

The surface structure of single crystal metals in reflected in the angular distributions of neutral atoms desorbed during keV Ar ion bombardment. Results are presented here of a study of desorption from a stepped surface, Rh{331}. Recently, classical dynamics simulations of the desorption process were shown to give excellent agreement with ejection data from Rh{111}, and the same model potential has been used to simulate desorption from Rh{331}. The agreement with experiment remains excellent despite the different coordination of the surface atoms on Rh{111} and Rh{331}. The azimuthal ejection distributions are strongly affected by the steps.