corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 81 » Issue 25
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5608–5611 (1998)

Observation of Large Differences in the Diffraction of Normal- and Para- H2 from LiF(001)

Download: PDF (205 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

M. F. Bertino*, A. L. Glebov†, J. P. Toennies, and F. Traeger
Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung, Bunsenstraße 10, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

E. Pijper and G. J. Kroes
Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

R. C. Mowrey
Chemistry Division, Code 6179, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. 20375-5342

Received 16 September 1998; published in the issue dated 21 December 1998

See accompanying Physics Focus

Large differences have been observed in the diffraction intensities of normal-hydrogen and pure para-hydrogen scattered from the surface of a LiF(001) single crystal. The observed differences are shown to result from a strong coupling between the quadrupole moment of H2 and the surface electrostatic field, which, in a zeroth order approximation, is averaged out in the case of para-hydrogen. Analogous effects are expected in scattering of all homonuclear diatomic molecules from ionic solids.

© 1998 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5608
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5608
PACS:
79.20.Rf

*Present address: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, Room 2-115, 77 Mass. Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139.

†Present address: Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ 07974.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >