LOW-Q PHONONS AND WIDTHS OF LOW-ENERGY ELECTRON-DIFFRACTION PEAKS

Low-q phonons cause local distortions of the crystal lattice which cause the gaps in the electronic band structure to wobble up and down. This results in a broadening of the peaks in low-energy electron diffraction which otherwise would be much narrower than observed, according to recent calculations. The effect varies with temperature and energy as T12E34 in rough agreement with experiment. © 1969 The American Physical Society.