Orientation dependence in the dissociative scattering of hydrogen molecules from metal surfaces

We investigate the molecular orientation dependence of the dissociation probability of neutral molecular hydrogen scattered from metal surfaces. The probability distributions are calculated in the cases when positive and negative hydrogen ions (ion pair) are formed and when two neutral hydrogen atoms are formed. On the basis of numerical results, it is found that a parallel orientation preference of probability distributions shows a tendency to be suppressed in the case when an ion pair is formed as compared with the case when two neutral hydrogen atoms are formed. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.