Introduction

The structure of a solid’s surface influences many of its essential properties, among them the chemical, electronic, and vibrational properties. To fully understand surface properties, one must often first determine to an atomistic accuracy the spatial coordinates of atoms in the surface region. Normally, an accuracy of a few percent of the interatomic distances is needed to fix certain electronic and vibrational characteristics. The interlayer spacings, bond lengths, bond angles, and bonding configurations need to be accurately determined and the results understood. Much work in this field has focused on single-crystal surfaces, but techniques have also been introduced which yield structural information at imperfect, amorphous, and other kinds of surfaces or interfaces. The contributions to these proceedings reflect the great diversity and complexity of surface science, covering theory, techniques, and structural results. They have been grouped according to the following topics.