Energy loss of atoms at metal surfaces due to electron-hole pair excitations: first-principles theory of "chemicurrents" |
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Authors: | Trail J R Graham M C Bird D M Persson M Holloway S |
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Institution: | Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom. j.r.trail@bath.ac.uk |
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Abstract: | A method is presented for calculating electron-hole pair excitation due to an incident atom or molecule interacting with a metal surface. Energy loss is described using an ab initio approach that obtains a position-dependent friction coefficient for an adsorbate moving near a metal surface from a total energy pseudopotential calculation. A semiclassical forced oscillator model is constructed to describe excitation of the electron gas due to the incident molecule. This approach is applied to H and D atoms incident on a Cu(111) surface, and we obtain theoretical estimates of the "chemicurrents" measured by Nienhaus et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 446 (1999)] for these atoms incident on the surface of a Schottky diode. |
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