Nonadiabatic effects in atom-surface charge transfer -: art. no. 121401

We present results of a joint experimental and theoretical study of the neutralization of Li+ ions scattered off a Ag(100) surface. Experimental data and a complete dynamical treatment based on a wave-packet propagation approach demonstrate a pronounced nonadiabatic character of the electron transfer process. In particular we show that, while strong for a fixed projectile-surface distance, the effect of the Ag(100) projected band gap on the charge transfer is to a large extent ineffective in scattering in the energy range of a few hundred eV due to the finite interaction time.