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Structure and electronic states of vicinal Ag(111) surfaces with densely kinked steps.

Authors :
Ortega, J. Enrique
Vasseur, Guillaume
Piquero-Zulaica, Ignacio
Matencio, Sonia
Valbuena, Miguel Angel
Rault, Julien E.
Schiller, Frederik
Corso, Martina
Mugarza, Aitor
Lobo-Checa, Jorge
Source :
New Journal of Physics. Jul2018, Vol. 20 Issue 7, p1-8. 8p.
Publication Year :
2018

Abstract

Vicinal surfaces exhibiting arrays of atomic steps are frequently investigated due to their diverse physical-chemical properties and their use as growth templates. However, surfaces featuring steps with a large number of low-coordinated kink-atoms have been widely ignored, despite their higher potential for chemistry and catalysis. Here, the equilibrium structure and the electronic states of vicinal Ag(111) surfaces with densely kinked steps are investigated in a systematic way using a curved crystal. With scanning tunneling microscopy we observe an exceptional structural homogeneity of this class of vicinals, reflected in the smooth probability distribution of terrace sizes at all vicinal angles. This allows us to observe, first, a subtle evolution of the terrace-size distribution as a function of the terrace-width that challenges statistical models of step lattices, and second, lattice fluctuations around resonant modes of surface states. As shown in angle resolved photoemission experiments, surface states undergo stronger scattering by fully-kinked step-edges, which triggers the full depletion of the two-dimensional band at surfaces with relatively small vicinal angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
13672630
Volume :
20
Issue :
7
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
New Journal of Physics
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
130880800
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aacbb7