Evidence for parallel confinement in resonant charge transfer of negative hydrogen ion near metal surfaces

Using a wave packet propagation approach, we find that the resonant charge transfer process of H^- near a Cu(111) surface is strongly influenced by transient hybrid states. These states originate from an ion-induced confinement parallel to the surface together with the surface-localization character of the metal potential along the surface normal. The lowest members of these states have lifetimes of the order of interaction times in typical particle-surface scattering experiments. The propagation of the electron probability density provides clear evidence for this effect in visualizing the evolution and the decay of these transient states.