A study is made of the adsorption states of light atoms (H,D,He) on perfect quantum crystals (H2,D2,He,Ne). The quantum nature of the crystal is taken into account at the outset of the theory and the adsorption states are calculated as the bound states of a single atom in the potential created by the semi-infinite solid (rigid lattice approximation). The three-dimensional Schrödinger equation is solved to obtain the binding energies of the various hydrogen and helium isotopes on the (111) and (100) faces of the following quantum crystals: H2, D2, He, Ne. The major sources of uncertainty in the results are discussed in the paper: by increasing importance they are the neglect of many body interactions, the neglect of the coupling of the adatom with the surface, and finally the uncertainties in most of the pair potentials. A good agreement is obtained with available experimental results.
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