Abstract:
The interaction between atoms and surfaces may be probed by bound state resonance spectroscopy. The experiments are usually interpreted within the free particle picture which assumes that the energy-momentum relation of atoms adsorbed onto a surface is described by 2D parabolic bands. We calculate and analyze the band structure of an atom adsorbed on a model corrugated surface and follow its behavior as the interaction potential evolves from weakly to strongly corrugated. Besides the expected reduction of degeneracy and development of gaps, we obtained a sizable correction to the bound state energies. We employ our results to reanalyze the available experiments on the system He-NaCl(001).