Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 24, 2026

Probing the Structure and Dynamics of Interfacial Water with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy
Published on: May 27, 2018
Vibrational dynamics and surface structure of Bi(111) from helium atom scattering measurements
M Mayrhofer-Reinhartshuber1, A Tamtögl, P Kraus
1Institute of Experimental Physics, Graz University of Technology, A-8010 Graz, Austria. mayrhofer-reinhartshuber@tugraz.at
Abstract:
The Bi(111) surface was studied by elastic scattering of helium atoms at temperatures between 118 and 423 K. The observed diffraction patterns with clear peaks up to third order were used to model the surface corrugation using the eikonal approximation as well as the GR method. Best fit results were obtained with a rather large corrugation height compared to other surfaces with metallic character. The corrugation shows a slight enhancement of the surface electron density in between the positions of the surface atoms. The vibrational dynamics of Bi(111) were investigated by measurements of the Debye-Waller attenuation of the elastic diffraction peaks and a surface Debye temperature of (84 ± 8) K was determined. A decrease of the surface Debye temperature at higher temperatures that was recently observed on Bi nanofilms could not be confirmed in the case of our single-crystal measurements.
More Related Videos
14:11Quantification of Hydrogen Concentrations in Surface and Interface Layers and Bulk Materials through Depth Profiling with Nuclear Reaction Analysis
Published on: March 29, 2016
11:27Studying Soft-matter and Biological Systems over a Wide Length-scale from Nanometer and Micrometer Sizes at the Small-angle Neutron Diffractometer KWS-2
Published on: December 8, 2016
Related Concept Videos
The de Broglie Wavelength
IR Spectroscopy: Hooke's Law Approximation of Molecular Vibration
According to Hooke's law, the vibrational frequency is directly proportional to the...
Determination of Crystal Structures
X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...