CLASSICAL TRAJECTORY STUDY OF THE INTERACTION OF ORIENTED NO AND AG(111)

Classical trajectory calculations have been performed for the scattering of oriented NO from Ag(111). The potential energy surface proposed by Voges and Schinke is used. The energy transfer from the molecule to the surface is treated using the cube model. The calculations reproduce most of the experimental observations. The rotational excitation of the molecule during the collision depends strongly on the initial orientation of the molecular axis with respect to the surface normal. This leads to a steric effect in the final angular distributions.