In the scattering of atoms and molecules from surfaces, focusing effects can give rise to a variety of significant features in both the experimentally measured elastic and inelastic scattering intensities. The study of focusing is extended to the case of sticking of atoms upon scattering into the physisorption potential well. It is demonstrated that this focused sticking (FS) should give rise to enhancements of the sticking coefficient for certain well-defined incident conditions.

• Received 2 August 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.63.121404