Abstract
An intense, positive electric field applied normal to a metal surface can displace or even strip away the surface layer of atoms. These effects are studied for a jellium model (=4.20 a.u., surface layer thickness d=5.65 a.u.) via fully self-consistent calculations within the local-density approximation for exchange and correlation. From plots of surface energy versus displacement for several fields of interest, the critical field required to evaporate the rigid surface layer is found (1.8 V/Å) and compared with the prediction (1.7 V/Å) of a simple semiempirical formula based upon universal binding-energy curves. The calculations also reveal information about electronic-charge redistribution, electronic resonances which develop with increasing separation of the surface layer from the bulk, and various components of the surface-layer–bulk binding force. The jellium surface is compared with the real-metal surface Na(110) and with Al(111), which was investigated in earlier semi-self-consistent work.
- Received 10 February 1987
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.36.2598
©1987 American Physical Society