Adsorbate-induced substrate relaxation and the adsorbate-adsorbate interaction

We formulate the theory of the perturbation caused by an adsorbate upon the substrate lattice in terms of a local modification of the interatomic potential energy around the adsorption site, which leads to the relaxation of substrate atoms. We apply the approach to CO chemisorption on close-packed metal surfaces, and show that the adsorbate-adsorbate interaction and a variety of other properties can be well described by a simple model.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figures, RevTex, submitted to PR

Diorama Art – A Potential Medium For Museum Educationm

The study recognizes the traditional role diorama plays as an effective medium for museum education and employed both descriptive and experimental methods to produce a diorama to popularize it for the Ghanaian populace. It explored the use of non-traditional modelling material (corn shucks and cobs) in the preparation of diorama. The results of the study  indicate that corn shucks and cobs which have less use in our environment as raw materials can be used as modelling medium to produce sculpture. As such other unconventional materials could be explored for modelling in order to open more avenues to sculptors. Besides, diorama could be a minimuseum, a potent tool to keep proper records, document valuable cultural and historic information to inspire and educate the public; as well as a way of building museums on school campuses to expand classroom teaching and learning.Keywords: Diorama, Museum, Education, Aperture, Assemblage

Many Body Theory of Charge Transfer in Hyperthermal Atomic Scattering

We use the Newns-Anderson Hamiltonian to describe many-body electronic processes that occur when hyperthermal alkali atoms scatter off metallic surfaces. Following Brako and Newns, we expand the electronic many-body wavefunction in the number of particle-hole pairs (we keep terms up to and including a single particle-hole pair). We extend their earlier work by including level crossings, excited neutrals and negative ions. The full set of equations of motion are integrated numerically, without further approximations, to obtain the many-body amplitudes as a function of time. The velocity and work-function dependence of final state quantities such as the distribution of ion charges and excited atomic occupancies are compared with experiment. In particular, experiments that scatter alkali ions off clean Cu(001) surfaces in the energy range 5 to 1600 eV constrain the theory quantitatively. The neutralization probability of Na$^+$ ions shows a minimum at intermediate velocity in agreement with the theory. This behavior contrasts with that of K$^+$, which shows ... (7 figures, not included. Figure requests: [email protected])Comment: 43 pages, plain TeX, BUP-JBM-

The mechanism of caesium intercalation of graphene

Properties of many layered materials, including copper- and iron-based superconductors, topological insulators, graphite and epitaxial graphene can be manipulated by inclusion of different atomic and molecular species between the layers via a process known as intercalation. For example, intercalation in graphite can lead to superconductivity and is crucial in the working cycle of modern batteries and supercapacitors. Intercalation involves complex diffusion processes along and across the layers, but the microscopic mechanisms and dynamics of these processes are not well understood. Here we report on a novel mechanism for intercalation and entrapment of alkali-atoms under epitaxial graphene. We find that the intercalation is adjusted by the van der Waals interaction, with the dynamics governed by defects anchored to graphene wrinkles. Our findings are relevant for the future design and application of graphene-based nano-structures. Similar mechanisms can also play a role for intercalation of layered materials.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures in published form, supplementary information availabl

Room Temperature Kondo effect in atom-surface scattering: dynamical 1/N approach

The Kondo effect may be observable in some atom-surface scattering experiments, in particular, those involving alkaline-earth atoms. By combining Keldysh techniques with the NCA approximation to solve the time-dependent Newns-Anderson Hamiltonian in the infinite-U limit, Shao, Nordlander and Langreth found an anomalously strong surface-temperature dependence of the outgoing charge state fractions. Here we employ the dynamical 1/N expansion with finite Coulomb interaction U to provide a more realistic description of the scattering process. We test the accuracy of the 1/N expansion in the spinless N = 1 case against the exact independent-particle solution. We then compare results obtained in the infinite-U limit with the NCA approximation and recover qualitative features found previously. Finally, we analyze the realistic situation of Ca atoms with U = 5.8 eV scattered off Cu(001) surfaces. Although the presence of the doubly-ionized Ca species can change the absolute scattered positive Ca yields, the temperature dependence is qualitatively the same as that found in the infinite-U limit. One of the main difficulties that experimentalists face in attempting to detect this effect is that the atomic velocity must be kept small enough to reduce possible kinematic smearing of the metal's Fermi surface.Comment: 15 pages, 10 Postscript figures; references and typos correcte