In-plane and out-of-plane diffraction of H(2) from metal surfaces

We have measured in-plane and out-of-plane diffraction of H2 and D2 molecular beams scattered by reactive Pd(111) and nonreactive NiAl(110) surfaces at 140-150 meV. A comparison with six-dimensional quantum dynamics and classical trajectory calculations shows for the first time that accurate diffraction patterns can be obtained from state-of-the-art potential energy surfaces based on density functional theory. Our measurements show that, at general incidence conditions, out-of-plane diffraction is much more important than was assumed in previous experiments.