Employing a cylindrical single crystal in gas-surface dynamics

We describe the use of a polished, hollow cylindrical nickel single crystal to study effects of step edges on adsorption and desorption of gas phase molecules. The crystal is held in an ultra-high vacuum apparatus by a crystal holder that provides axial rotation about a [100] direction, and a crystal temperature range of 89 to 1100 K. A microchannel plate-based low energy electron diffraction/retarding field Auger electron spectrometer (AES) apparatus identifies surface structures present on the outer surface of the cylinder, while a separate double pass cylindrical mirror analyzer AES verifies surface cleanliness. A supersonic molecular beam, skimmed by a rectangular slot, impinges molecules on a narrow longitudinal strip of the surface. Here, we use the King and Wells technique to demonstrate how surface structure influences the dissociation probability of deuterium at various kinetic energies. Finally, we introduce spatially-resolved temperature programmed desorption from areas exposed to the supersonic molecular beam to show how surface structures influence desorption features. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [ http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3692686]