Relativistic effects on LEED intensities from Au(111)

Comparison of relativistically and nonrelativistically calculated intensity versus energy profiles in low energy electron diffraction (LEED) from the (111) surface of Au (Z = 79) reveals that relativistic corrections are quite significant. They can however, be obtained in very good approximation by quasirelativistic calculations, in which spin-averaged relativistic phase shifts are used as input for the nonrelativistic multiple scattering formalism. Further, relativistic effects on intensities are found to be comparable to differences arising from different approximations to the exchange part of the ion core potential