Chemical reactions based on heterogeneous catalysis play
an important role in modern technology. The understanding
of the basic steps in catalysis like adsorption, surface
diffusion, recombination and desorption is the key to
produce new catalysts. In this project the basic steps of
the desorption of simple molecules like H2 or D2 from
single crystal metal surfaces are investigated. In particular
the vibrational and rotational state distribution of the
desorbing molecules is investigated with the help of laser
spectroscopy (REMPI: resonantly enhanced multi-photon
ionization. From the experimental results one gets
information on the type of reaction, e.g. Eley-Rideal or
Langmuir Hinshelwood.