Influence of Rotational Energy on Adsorption Probability for a Physisorbed System:C2H4onAg(001)

Abstract
We show that the population of the rotational degrees of freedom of gas molecules affects their adsorption probability also for a physisorbed state. The effect, expected to be very general, is demonstrated for the case of ethylene interaction with Ag(001), where the physisorption probability is suppressed for molecules produced with a hot nozzle, characterized by a substantially larger average rotational quantum number.