low-energy electron diffraction


low-energy electron diffraction

[′lō ‚en·ər·jē i‚lek‚trän di′frak·shən] (solid-state physics) A technique for studying the atomic structure of single crystal surfaces, in which electrons of uniform energy in the approximate range 5-500 electronvolts are scattered from a surface, and those scattered electrons that have lost no energy are selected and accelerated to a fluorescent screen where the diffraction pattern from the surface can be observed. Abbreviated LEED.