BENCHMARKING PATTERSON ANALYSIS IN HELIUM ATOM SCATTERING

The technique of Patterson analysis has proven to be a powerful tool in the deduction of structures, both in 2- and 3-D. Using the standard formulation of the Patterson function, the process has been benchmarked for the Helium Atom Scattering (HAS) experiment. Analytically expanding the Patterson function reveals a straightforward Fourier series, whose coefficients are explicit functions of the surface corrugation and the momentum exchange during scattering. Examples based on this formulation reveal that in surface scattering experiments, the Patterson formulation may not be directly interpreted as a map of the inter-nuclear distances, but as a function of surface corrugation and perpendicular momentum exchange.