Manson JR, Benedek G, Miret-Artés S. Electron-Phonon Coupling Strength at Metal Surfaces Directly Determined from the Helium Atom Scattering Debye-Waller Factor.
J Phys Chem Lett 2016;
7:1016-1021. [PMID:
26927966 DOI:
10.1021/acs.jpclett.6b00139]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
A new quantum-theoretical derivation of the elastic and inelastic scattering probability of He atoms from a metal surface, where the energy and momentum exchange with the phonon gas can occur only through the mediation of the surface free-electron density, shows that the Debye-Waller exponent is directly proportional to the electron-phonon mass coupling constant λ. The comparison between the values of λ extracted from existing data on the Debye-Waller factor for various metal surfaces and the λ values known from literature indicates a substantial agreement, which opens the possibility of directly extracting the electron-phonon coupling strength in quasi-2D conducting systems from the temperature or incident energy dependence of the elastic helium atom scattering intensities.
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