Abstract
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 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.
- Received 16 September 1998
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5608
©1998 American Physical Society