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Direct evidence for the effect of local strain at a surface on the bonding strength for adsorbates is presented. Scanning tunneling microscopy revealed that adsorbed oxygen atoms on Ru(0001) surfaces are located preferentially on top of nanometer-size protrusions above subsurface argon bubbles, where tensile strain prevails, and are depleted around their rim in regions of compression, relative to the flat surface. Such effects can be considered as the reverse of adsorbate-induced strain, and their direct local demonstration can be used to test theoretical predictions.

Dynamical processes are commonly investigated using laser pump-probe experiments, with a pump pulse exciting the system of interest and a second probe pulse tracking its temporal evolution as a function of the delay between the pulses. Because the time resolution attainable in such experiments depends on the temporal definition of the laser pulses, pulse compression to 200 attoseconds (1 as = 10(-18) s) is a promising recent development. These ultrafast pulses have been fully characterized, and used to directly measure light waves and electronic relaxation in free atoms. But attosecond pulses can only be realized in the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray regime; in contrast, the optical laser pulses typically used for experiments on complex systems last several femtoseconds (1 fs = 10(-15) s). Here we monitor the dynamics of ultrafast electron transfer--a process important in photo- and electrochemistry and used in solid-state solar cells, molecular electronics and single-electron devices--on attosecond timescales using core-hole spectroscopy. We push the method, which uses the lifetime of a core electron hole as an internal reference clock for following dynamic processes, into the attosecond regime by focusing on short-lived holes with initial and final states in the same electronic shell. This allows us to show that electron transfer from an adsorbed sulphur atom to a ruthenium surface proceeds in about 320 as.

The effect of low-energy (15–200-eV) electrons on hydrogen, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and barium adsorbed on tungsten has been investigated by a field-emission technique. Desorption cross sections σ were determined from work function and Fowler—Nordheim pre-exponential changes and are significantly smaller than would be expected for comparable molecular processes. Marked variations in cross section with binding mode within a given system were found. Thus σH=3.5 10—20 cm2 and 5×10—21 cm2 for processes tentatively interpreted as the splitting of molecularly adsorbed H2 and desorption of H, respectively; σ0=4.5×10—19 cm2 for a loosely bound state and σ0≤2×10—21 cm2 for all other states; σBa<2×10—22 cm2 under all conditions. In the case of CO (reported in detail elsewhere), three binding modes observed previously could be confirmed and differentiated by their different cross sections: σvirgin=3×10—19 cm2; σβ=5.8×10—21 cm2, σα=3×10—18 cm2; conversion by electrons of virgin to β σvβ≥10—19 cm2. These results are interpreted in terms of transitions from the adsorbed ground state to repulsive portions of excited states, followed by de-exciting transitions which prevent desorption. Arguments are made to show that the excitation cross sections should be essentially ``normal,'' i.e., ∼10—16 to 10—17 cm2, and that the much smaller over-all cross sections observed are due to high transition probabilities to the ground state, estimated as 1014 to 1015 sec—1. A detailed calculation for the case of exponentially varying transition probabilities and repulsive upper states is presented and discussed, and the variations in cross section with binding mode made plausible. It is shown that low-energy electron impact constitutes a sensitive tool for studying chemisorption.

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We have performed high resolution XPS experiments of the Ru(0001) surface, both clean and covered with well-defined amounts of oxygen up to 1 ML coverage. For the clean surface we detected two distinct components in the Ru 3d 5/2 core level spectra, for which a definite assignment was made using the high resolution Angle-Scan Photoelectron Diffraction approach. For the p(2 × 2), p(2 × 1), (2 × 2)-3O and (1 × 1)-O oxygen structures we found Ru 3d 5/2 core level peaks which are shifted up to 1 eV to higher binding energies. Very good agreement with density functional theory calculations of these Surface Core Level Shifts (SCLS) is reported. The overriding parameter for the resulting Ru SCLSs turns out to be the number of directly coordinated O atoms. Since the calculations permit the separation of initial and final state effects, our results give valuable information for the understanding of bonding and screening at the surface, otherwise not accessible in the measurement of the core level energies alone.

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We report on laser-assisted attosecond photoemission from single-crystalline magnesium. In strong contrast to the previously investigated transition metal tungsten, photoelectron wave packets originating from the localized core level and delocalized valence-band states are launched simultaneously from the solid within the experimental uncertainty of 20 as. This phenomenon is shown to be compatible with a heuristic model based on free-particle-like propagation of the electron wave packets generated inside the crystal by the attosecond excitation pulse and their subsequent interaction with the assisting laser field at the metal-vacuum interface.