Recovery temperature for nonclassical energy transfer in atom-surface scattering

TL;DR

This paper derives nonperturbative quantum expressions for energy transfer spectra in atom-surface scattering, enabling accurate calculations of recovery temperature and challenging classical assumptions about its universality.

Contribution

It introduces a full quantum approach to calculate energy transfer and recovery temperature in atom-surface collisions, providing insights beyond classical models.

Findings

Good agreement with experimental data for He/Xe/Cu(111) scattering

Quantum calculations refute the classical universality of recovery temperature

Provides a new framework for analyzing gas-surface energy transfer

Abstract

Nonperturbative expressions are derived for the angular resolved energy transfer spectra in the quantum regime of multiphonon scattering of inert gas atoms from surfaces. Application to He atom scattering from a prototype heatbath Xe/Cu(111) shows good agreement with experiments. This enables a full quantum calculation of the total energy transfer $\mu$ and therefrom the much debated recovery or equilibrium temperature $T_{r}$ characteristic of zero energy transfer in gas-surface collisions in the free molecular flow regime. Classical universal character of $\mu$ and $T_{r}$ is refuted.