Electron Diffraction Study of Films of Body-Centered Cubic Metals Condensed at Low Temperature

Metals with the bcc structure (Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs and Ba) have been condensed onto substrates kept at the liquid helium or nitrogen temperature by vacuum evaporation, and their structures have been studied by transmission electron diffraction. It has been found that none of these films are in an amorphous state, and that the films of alkali metals (Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs) contain a small quantity of crystallites of the hop structure besides those of the bcc structure