Abstract
Vibrationally excited NO molecules have been observed in the scattering of from Ag(111). A direct mechanism is inferred based on the observation of angular distributions, which are quasispecular, and rotational-state distributions, which depend on beam energy. Vibrational excitation is found to depend strongly on surface temperature, , and relatively weakly on incident kinetic energy, , reaching (∼7±5)% at K and kJ . These results are discussed in terms of an electronic mechanism for vibrational excitation.
- Received 1 July 1985
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.55.1904
©1985 American Physical Society