Self-alignment of Co adatoms on in atomic wires by quasi-one-dimensional electron-gas-meditated interactions.
Low-density Co atoms are found to self-align on the Si(111)-(4 x 1)-In surface in the direction of In atomic wires at incommensurate adsorption sites. Indirect interaction between a pair of Co adatoms is investigated through a site distribution function of adatoms determined with scanning tunneling microscopy. In the direction of self-alignment, the potential of the mean force between two Co adatoms is long-range and oscillatory with multiple frequencies, which correlate strongly to the electronic scattering vectors of the surface-state bands at the Fermi level. We thus attribute the Co-Co interaction to that mediated by a quasi-one-dimensional electron gas confined within the In atomic wires.
International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS), International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan. liu.canhua@nims.go.jp
Canhua
C
Liu
Takashi
T
Uchihashi
Tomonobu
T
Nakayama