A MATRIX-OPERATOR APPROACH TO REFLECTION HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRON-DIFFRACTION THEORY

The amplitudes of beams reflected from a crystal surface by high-energ y electrons are expressed in terms of matrix operators based on Bloch waves. The solution is derived in terms of the limiting case of an inf inite slab and is therefore applicable to cases involving overlayers o f different composition and structure. The possibility of using a kine matical theory and its relationship to the full dynamical treatment ar e investigated. Calculations show that the method is limited by numeri cal problems but that it can be used to give a qualitative description of features in reflection high-energy electron diffraction.