Adsorption on metal surfaces. Progress report, May 1, 1980-April 30, 1983

Adsorbed surface layers constitute a distinct phase of matter with important consequences in virtually all areas of technology. Detailed information on the statis properties of adsorbed layers has been provided by such techniques as low energy electron diffraction, photoemission, and core level spectroscopies. A common limitation in such studies, however, is that interactions involving relatively small energies are often mased by other, much larger, characteristic energies. This is, of course, a familiar problem in bulk solid state physics, where many of the important properties of materials are controlled by their defect structure, which is characterized by much weaker interaction energies than those responsible for the periodic character of the lattice. We have therefore undertaken a joint theoretical-experimental program that is directed toward the consequences of these relatively weak surface interactions in adsorbed layers on metal surfaces. Although they involve comparatively small energies, these interactions have a profound influence on surface reactivity