Hot oxygen atom ballistics on Pt(111): collisional desorption of noble gases

Hot oxygen atoms formed by ultraviolet photofragmentation of chemisorbed O₂ on Pt(111) at T_s=20 K induced collisional desorption of coadsorbed noble gases. Angular distributions of desorbing Ar, Kr, and Xe were sharply peaked at 35° from the surface normal. Mean translational energies of the noble gases were in the 0.12 eV (1400 K) range. The O atom photofragments were found to chatter between the surface and the noble gases during the desorption process. The fastest O atom photofragments produced at 250 nm had an energy of at least 0.73 eV.