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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Quantitative Atomic-Site Analysis of Functional Dopants/Point Defects in Crystalline Materials by Electron-Channeling-Enhanced Microanalysis
Published on: May 10, 2021
Atom diffraction reveals the impact of atomic core electrons on atom-surface potentials
Vincent P A Lonij1, Catherine E Klauss, William F Holmgren
1Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
Abstract:
We measured ratios of van der Waals potential coefficients (C3) for different atoms (Li, Na, K, and Rb) interacting with the same surface by studying atom diffraction from a nanograting. These measurements are a sensitive test of atomic structure calculations because C3 ratios are strongly influenced by core electrons and only weakly influenced by the permittivity and geometry of the surface. Our measurement uncertainty of 2% in the ratio C(3)(K)/C(3)(Na) is close to the uncertainty of the best theoretical predictions, and some of these predictions are inconsistent with our measurement.
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