A new method of studying atomic surface reactions of metals to gases is expected to add considerably to understanding such surface phenomena as catalysis and corrosion.
By diffracting low energy electrons from a surface and accelerating them by a strong electric field to a fluorescent screen, a diffraction pattern is produced on the screen. This pattern reveals the arrangement of the first monolayer of atoms on the surface.
The low energy electron diffraction technique and findings were described by the developer, L. H. Germer, and A. U. MacRae, both of Bell Telephone Laboratories, 463 West Street, New York 14, N. Y., at the International Conference on Magnetism and Crystallography held in Kyoto, Japan, in September.
In studies of oxygen and hydrogen adsorption on a nickel crystal, Germer and MacRae found that after a monolayer of oxygen had been adsorbed, nickel atoms diffused to the surface, producing an orderly arrangement containing...
