Diffractive scattering of H atoms from the (001) surface of LiF at 78 K

We have built an apparatus for the measurement of high resolution diffractive scattering of hydrogen atoms from crystal surfaces. The apparatus comprises a hydrogen atom beam source, a hexapolar magnetic field velocity selector, a variable temperature UHV crystal manipulator, and a rotatable bolometer detector. The diffraction pattern of a beam of hydrogen atoms scattered by a (001) LiF surface at 78 K has been obtained for different angles of incidence and different orientations of the crystal. The Debye–Waller factor has been measured leading to a surface Debye temperature ϑS=550±38 K. The corrugated-hard-wall-with-a-well model of Garibaldi et al. [Surf. Sci. 48, 649 (1975)] has been used for the interpretation of the intensities of the diffracted peaks. By means of a best fit procedure we obtain a main ’’corrugation’’ parameter ξ0=0.095 Å. By comparison of the data with the theory of Cabrera et al. [Surf. Sci. 19, 70 (1967] at the first order, the strength parameters of a periodic Morse potential have been determined.