A quantitative structural analysis of CoAl(110)-(1 x 1) by low energy
electron diffraction shows that the topmost layer of the surface is ri
ppled by an amplitude of 0.18 Angstrom, with aluminum atoms pulled out
of the surface and the average distance to the second layer only slig
htly expanded. In contrast to the perfect stoichiometry found for the
top layer and the chemical order in the bulk, about 20% of the second
layer Al atoms are substituted by Co. This is probably due to preferen
tial sputtering during the course of sample preparation and incomplete
subsequent reordering. A new version of Tensor LEED allows the detect
ion of some disordered rippling induced by the substitutional disorder
in this layer, with substitutional cobalt being 0.05 Angstrom above t
he ideal aluminum position. The quality of the theory-experiment fit i
s mirrored by a Pendry R factor value of R = 0.10.