Impact of topography on molecular-beam scattering on surfaces: the NO-diamond case

State-selective laser techniques are used to study the scattering of NO molecules on a crystallographic diamond surface. It is inferred that the diamond surface differentiates between ''left'' and ''right'' incoming molecules and accordingly endows them with different energy contents after the collision without providing any energy to them. Time-of-flight spectra show the existence of two velocity components in the scattered molecules that correspond to two different molecule-surface collision histories.