Calculated beam intensities for low energy positron diffraction

The intensity of the specular beam for low energy positron diffraction (LEPD) from the Cu(111) surface is calculated in the energy range 20–150 eV. Close agreement is found with the first experimental data for LEPD published recently. This result indicates that LEPD may be exploited as a technique for determining surface structures in the near future. It is suggested that LEPD may have advantages in surface structure analysis in comparison with low energy electron diffraction (LEED).