Observation of vibrational excitation and deexcitation for NO(v= 2) scattering from Au(111): Evidence for electron-hole-pair mediated energy transfer

Measurements of vibrational excitation and deexcitation of NO(ν = 2) scattering from a Au(111) surface show that the probability of both processes increases strongly with the kinetic energy of the incident NO. These results are qualitatively consistent with a vibrational energy transfer mechanism involving electron-hole pairs but not with competing adiabatic models. The form of the energy dependence, and other features of the measurements, are not in accord with existing calculations. © 2000 The American Physical Society.