Abstract
A theory of the determination of characteristic surface vibration temperatures (so-called `surface Debye temperatures') by molecular beam scattering is outlined. The basis of the theory is the reduction in the intensities of the specular and diffracted beams which is due to the thermal motions of the surface atoms (the `Debye-Waller effect'). A combination of the theory of this effect and the diffraction theory of N. Cabrera, V. Celli, F. O. Goodman and J. R. Manson (Surface Sci. 19 (1970) 67) allows calculation of the specular and the diffracted intensities as functions of the experimental parameters (in particular, as functions of the ratio of (a) the surface temperature and (b) the characteristic surface vibration temperature). The theory is applied to some experimental data of H. Hoinkes, H. Nahr and H. Wilsch (Surface Sci. 33 (1972) 516) on the system H–LiF(001).