title: Electron-Phonon Coupling Strength at Metal Surfaces Directly Determined from the Helium Atom Scattering Debye-Waller Factor.
abstract: A new quantum-theoretical derivation of the elastic and inelastic scattering probability of He atoms from a metal surface, where the energy and momentum exchange with the phonon gas can occur only through the mediation of the surface free-electron density, shows that the Debye-Waller exponent is directly proportional to the electron-phonon mass coupling constant λ. The comparison between the values of λ extracted from existing data on the Debye-Waller factor for various metal surfaces and the λ values known from literature indicates a substantial agreement, which opens the possibility of directly extracting the electron-phonon coupling strength in quasi-2D conducting systems from the temperature or incident energy dependence of the elastic helium atom scattering intensities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University , Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States.|Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal, 4 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Manson
authors.affiliation: Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal, 4 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.|Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università di Milano-Bicocca , Via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Benedek
authors.affiliation: Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) , Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal, 4 20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.|Instituto de Física Fundamental , Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Serrano 123, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miret-Artés