Rare gas collisions with molten metal surfaces

Newly available experimental data for the scattering of argon, neon, and xenon atoms from molten gallium, indium, and bismuth surfaces are compared to calculations with classical scattering theory. The results of the theory are in reasonable agreement with observed energy-resolved spectra taken at fixed angles, with in-plane angular distributions, and with the first available out-of-plane angular distribution spectra for these systems. For all three of the rare gases, scattering from liquid Ga required the use of an effective surface mass equal to 1.65 times the mass of a single Ga atom. The need for a larger effective mass has been noted previously for Ar/Ga scattering and is indicative of collective effects in the liquid Ga. Comparisons with data taken at low incident energies enable estimates of the physisorption well depth in the interaction potentials for many of the gas-metal combinations.