Vibrational enhancement of electron emission in CO (a3Π) quenching at a clean metal surface

Abstract

We have combined a Stark decelerator with a molecular beam-surface scattering setup to accurately measure the absolute electron emission yield, γ, of CO (a³Π) quenching at a Au(111) surface with quantum state resolution. We clearly observe an enhanced probability of electron emission when scattering vibrationally excited states of CO from the surface.