Phys. Rev. B 43, 2477–2489 (1991)Finite Debye-Waller factor for ‘‘classical’’ atom-surface scatteringReceived 18 September 1990; published in the issue dated 1 February 1991 We consider atom-surface scattering at low surface temperature, fixed incident energy, and fixed interaction potential. We examine the limit as the mass m of the incident particle →∞, and thus its de Broglie wavelength →0. We show that in this ‘‘classical’’ limit, at zero temperature, the Debye-Waller factor, i.e., the probability of strictly elastic scattering (a quantum effect), tends to a finite limit (<1). We propose scattering of 20-meV Ar atoms from cold Cu(111) as a promising experiment to verify this effect, and estimate the Debye-Waller factor for this system. © 1991 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.2477
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.43.2477
PACS:
68.35.Ja, 82.65.Pa, 03.65.Sq
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