Charge transfer during alkali-surface adsorbate collisions

The study of charge transfer process between atomic particles and surface adsorbates is important, from both fundamental and practical points of view. Resonant charge transfer (RCT) process during the scattering of low-energy alkali ions from surfaces is proven to depend on the surface local electrostatic potential (LEP). This dissertation investigates the surface electronic environment around halogen and hydrogen adatoms on transition metal and silicon surfaces by using alkali ion scattering.; Charge transfer in 7Li+ scattering from clean Si surfaces was shown to involve RCT between the Li 2s level and the Si dangling bonds. Hydrogen adsorption decreases the neutralization because it ties up the dangling bonds. The neutral fractions in 7Li + scattering from Cs/Si are also determined primarily by the dangling bond states, so that the surface LEP cannot be directly probed. Hydrogen adsorption on Cs/Si ties up the dangling bonds, thereby revealing the local potentials.; The neutralization probabilities of Li+ backscattered from the hydrogen- and iodine-covered Ni(100) surface were measured. The neutral fraction does not change significantly on H-adsorbed surface. For iodine adsorption, however, unexpected high neutralization probabilities were found for Li scattered directly from iodine sites.; Similar behavior were observed for Li+ scattering from I- and Br-covered Fe(100) and Fe(110). The neutralization of Li+ was measured as a function of the incident energy, adatom charge and coverage, and exit angle. It was found that the larger neutral fractions of Li scattered from the halogen sites are caused by a lower potential directly above the adatoms due to internal polarization. As the exit beam moves off-normal, the neutral fraction of Li scattered from iodine decreases. This is in contrast to Cs and Ag adsorbates where the neutral fractions increase for glancing exit trajectories. These angular-dependences are verified by a semi-quantitative theoretical analysis.; To further understand the role of local bonding in inducing halogen adatom polarization, neutralization of alkalis backscattered from I-adsorbed clean and oxidized Si(111) was measured. The results suggests that I adatoms are polarized on Si(111), but the polarization strength is greatly quenched for I adatoms on pre-oxidized Si(111), which are directly bonded to oxygen.