FURTHER COMMENTS ON FIELD ADSORPTION

This note deals with issues raised as a consequence of the author's paper on field adsorption at the 1989 International Field Emission Symposium. A fuller derivation and discussion is given of the formula for the classical dipole/image-dipole bonding energy between a polarised neutral atom and a charged surface. The calculations of Watanabe et al. on field adsorption have been checked, and it has been verified that the correct Hamiltonian as described by the present author has in fact been used in the calculations. The discrepancy between the classical calculation and the result of Watanabe et al. is therefore unresolved. Questions concerning the relative roles of polarisation effects and exchange-integral effects remain.