Scattering of surface-state electrons by the monatomic step in Fe(001): Differential conductivity imaging by scanning tunneling microscopy
- 10 December 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 65 (2), 024406
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.65.024406
Abstract
The influence of steps on the surface states of the magnetic Fe(001) surface was studied at room temperature by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). We observed the distinct bias-dependent differential conductivity contrasts at step edges from those on flat terraces. The observed line profiles across the step edge exhibit the strong reduction of the empty-state local density of states up to 1 eV above the Fermi level. That can be attributed to the scattering of the minority-spin surface states by the step edge, thus, a sizable spin-dependent contrast at the step edge is predicted in spin-polarized STM.
Keywords
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