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Experimental advances in helium atom scattering spectroscopy over the last forty years have allowed the measurement of surface phonon dispersion curves of more than 200 different crystal surfaces and overlayers of insulators, semiconductors and metals. The first part of the book presents, at a tutorial level, the fundamental concepts and methods in surface lattice dynamics, and the theory of atom-surface interaction and inelastic scattering in their various approximations, up to the recent electron-phonon theory of helium atom scattering from conducting surfaces. The second part of the book, after introducing the experimentalist to He-atom spectrometers and the rich phenomenology of helium atom scattering from corrugated surfaces, illustrates the most significant experimental results on the surface phonon dispersion curves of various classes of insulators, semiconductors, metals, layered crystals, topological insulators, complex surfaces, adsorbates, ultra-thin films and clusters. The great potential of helium atom scattering for the study of atomic scale diffusion, THz surface collective excitations, including acoustic surface plasmons, and the future prospects of helium atom scattering are presented in the concluding chapters. The book will be valuable reading for all researchers and graduate students interested in dynamical processes at surfaces.
List of contents
Historical Survey.- The Theory of Surface Phonons.- Surface Forces and Structures from the Dispersion of Surface Phonons.- Theoretical Methods of Surface Dynamics.- The Atom-Surface Potential.- Theory of Atom-Surface Phonon Scattering.- Theory of Atom-Surface Phonon Scattering.- Experimental Methods.- Intensities and Resolution of HAS Experiments.- Experimental Results.- Vibrations of Adsorbates and Thin Films.- New Horizons.
About the author
Giorgio Benedek, former Full Professor of Structure of Matter, is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, visiting professor at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) in San Sebastian, Spain, Director of the Erice International School of Solid State Physics at the Erice Ettore Majorana Centre, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. He is recipient of the International Franqui Chair, Belgium, of the Alexander von Humboldt Award, and co-recipient of the 2014 International Prize for Physics of the Lincei National Academy of Italy (with Diederik Wiersma) and the Max-Planck Prize 1992 with J. Peter Toennies.
Prof. Dr. J. Peter Toennies • Assistant from 1957 – 1998 at the Physics Department of the University of Bonn • Director at the Max Planck Institut für Strömungsforschung in Göttingen from 1969 – 1998 • Emeritus Director since 1998 • Honorary Degrees from University of Göteborg (Sweden) and Amherst College (USA) • Member of the National Academy of Science (Leopoldina) Halle, Germany and corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. • Europhysics Hewlett-Packard Condensed Matter Division Prize (with G. Ertl and H. Ibach) , the Stern- Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society and other international prizes including the Max-Planck Prize 1992 with Giorgio Benedek.
Summary
Experimental advances in helium atom scattering spectroscopy over the last forty years have allowed the measurement of surface phonon dispersion curves of more than 200 different crystal surfaces and overlayers of insulators, semiconductors and metals. The first part of the book presents, at a tutorial level, the fundamental concepts and methods in surface lattice dynamics, and the theory of atom-surface interaction and inelastic scattering in their various approximations, up to the recent electron-phonon theory of helium atom scattering from conducting surfaces. The second part of the book, after introducing the experimentalist to He-atom spectrometers and the rich phenomenology of helium atom scattering from corrugated surfaces, illustrates the most significant experimental results on the surface phonon dispersion curves of various classes of insulators, semiconductors, metals, layered crystals, topological insulators, complex surfaces, adsorbates, ultra-thin films and clusters. The great potential of helium atom scattering for the study of atomic scale diffusion, THz surface collective excitations, including acoustic surface plasmons, and the future prospects of helium atom scattering are presented in the concluding chapters. The book will be valuable reading for all researchers and graduate students interested in dynamical processes at surfaces.
Additional text
“Even surface scientists who do not work with atom scattering will appreciate the book for its comprehensive overview. I can recommend it also for master and doctoral students in this field because it promotes the basic understanding to a high degree.” (Wolfgang E. Ernst, Microscopy and Microanalysis, Vol. 26 (1), February, 2020)
“The target reader is possibly an experienced PhD student, or a colleague. … We really have to thank Peter and Giorgio for having written a book that is a guide to younger researchers, even devoted to other subjects: theory and experiments are working together, mutually understanding the critical issues, so that any detail is suitably addressed and, finally, understood.” (Leo Miglio, Il Nuovo Saggiatore, Vol. 35 (5-6), 2019)
Report
"Even surface scientists who do not work with atom scattering will appreciate the book for its comprehensive overview. I can recommend it also for master and doctoral students in this field because it promotes the basic understanding to a high degree." (Wolfgang E. Ernst, Microscopy and Microanalysis, Vol. 26 (1), February, 2020)
"The target reader is possibly an experienced PhD student, or a colleague. ... We really have to thank Peter and Giorgio for having written a book that is a guide to younger researchers, even devoted to other subjects: theory and experiments are working together, mutually understanding the critical issues, so that any detail is suitably addressed and, finally, understood." (Leo Miglio, Il Nuovo Saggiatore, Vol. 35 (5-6), 2019)
