Theoretical Description of Charge Transfer Processes Near Metal Surfaces

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Theoretical Description of Charge Transfer Processes Near Metal Surfaces - This project has the goal of increasing our understanding of charge transfer phenomena between atoms or simple molecules and metal surfaces. In the first part, the complex scaling technique will be used to calculate the electron tunneling probabilities between excited atomic (or molecular) states and a model metal surface. In particular, the effects of impurity coadsorption and of lateral corrugation (model lattice structure) of the surface potential on these tunneling rates will be investigated. These transition rates will then be combined with a time-dependent scattering model to allow description of charge transfer processes in collisions taking place between an atom (or molecule) and a metal surface. Again, influences specific to real metallic surfaces will be included into the model. %%% The energy and lifetime of excited states of atoms and molecules at or near metal surfaces are controlling factors in many dynamical phenomena taking place near surfaces. For example, atoms bound to the surface can be desorbed through the action of light or energetic electrons if an electronically excited antibonding state has a long enough lifetime. This lifetime, however, depends strongly on the interaction between the atom and the metal surface. Similarly, the lifetime of excited states generated in atom-surface scattering help to determine the dispersion of the scattered beam. The goal of this project is to develop methods for evaluating the effect of a metal surface on a nearby atom, and to predict the ultimate result of this influence on the atom-surface scattering problem.