Temperature-programmed spectroscopy for surface kinetic analysis: Absorption and laser-induced fluorescence techniques

Temperature-programmed absorption and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopic techniques are demonstrated as time-dependent probes of surface coverage. These optical techniques are both employed to monitor the desorption of phenanthrene multilayers from Al2O3(1120) in ultrahigh vacuum. The temperature-programmed optical studies are found to be complementary with temperature-programmed desorption results using mass spectrometry. This study illustrates that optical spectroscopic techniques can accurately measure the time dependence of surface coverage and determine the kinetics of surface processes.