  When a noble gas atom approaches a solid surface, it is adsorbed via the Van
der Waals force, which is called physisorption. In this thesis, several
experimental results concerning physisorbed atoms at surfaces are presented.
First, photon stimulated desorption of Xe atoms from a Au substrate using
nano-second laser is presented. With the time-of-flight measurements, the
translational temperature and the desorption yield of desorbing Xe as a
function of laser fluence are obtained. It is discovered that there are
non-thermal and thermal desorption pathways. It is discussed that the former
path involves a transient formation of the negative ion of Xe. The desorption
flux dependence of the thermal pathway is also investigated. We found that at a
large desorption fluxes the desorption flow is thermalized due to the
post-desorption collisions. The resultant velocity and the temperature of the
flow is found to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions based on
the Knudsen layer formation. Lastly, nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron
radiation by the multi- and mono-layer of $^{83}$Kr at a surface of the
titanium oxide is presented. The use of the noble gas atoms as the probes of
the electric field gradient at the solid surfaces is discussed.
