Selected Surface Phonon Studies

Selected Surface Phonon Studies 8.2.5.1 Reconstruction and Relaxation... 

Another class of techniques monitors surface vibration frequencies. High-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) measures the inelastic scattering of low energy ( 5eV) electrons from surfaces. It is sensitive to the vibrational excitation of adsorbed atoms and molecules as well as surface phonons. This is particularly useful for chemisorption systems, allowing the identification of surface species. Application of normal mode analysis and selection rules can determine the point symmetry of the adsorption sites./24/ Infrarred reflectance-adsorption spectroscopy (IRRAS) is also used to study surface systems, although it is not intrinsically surface sensitive. IRRAS is less sensitive than HREELS but has much higher resolution. 

Recently, Berweger and Raschke considered the polar phonon mode selection rules for TERS for the determination of nanocrystallographic information from solids using TERS as discussed in Sect. 4.2 [93]. This is a very different situation given that the location and orientation of the hot spot relative to the sample and excitation are well characterized and could be extended to the study of molecular adsorption on metals and other surfaces in the future. 

A review of the applications of the pseudopotential method and total energy techniques to the electronic and structural properties of solids is presented. With this approach, it has recently become possible to determine with accuracy crystal structures, lattice constants, bulk moduli, shear moduli, cohesive energies, phonon spectra, solid-solid phase transformations, and other static and dynamical properties of solids. The only inputs to these calculations, which are performed either with plane wave or LCAO bases, are the atomic numbers and masses of the constituent atoms. Calculations have also been carried out to study the atomic and electronic structure of surfaces, chemisorption systems, and interfaces. Results for several selected systems including the covalent semiconductors and insulators and the transition metals are discussed. The review is not exhaustive but focuses on specific prototype systems to illustrate recent progress. 

---