Inelastic He scattering from a xenon overlayer: Dynamical diffraction effects

A model study is presented which describes the interaction of a gas with a crystalline surface. Both the surface and gas are treated quantum mechanically using a type of mean field approximation for the coupling of the translating particles to the surface. By varying the angle of incidence of the incoming particle, a large diffraction effect is observed for a narrow range of angles. Significant differences between the static and thermal features of the gas-surface scattering are observed.