title: Real-space Wigner-Seitz cells imaging of potassium on graphite via elastic atomic manipulation.
abstract: Atomic manipulation in the scanning tunnelling microscopy, conventionally a tool to build nanostructures one atom at a time, is here employed to enable the atomic-scale imaging of a model low-dimensional system. Specifically, we use low-temperature STM to investigate an ultra thin film (4 atomic layers) of potassium created by epitaxial growth on a graphite substrate. The STM images display an unexpected honeycomb feature, which corresponds to a real-space visualization of the Wigner-Seitz cells of the close-packed surface K atoms. Density functional simulations indicate that this behaviour arises from the elastic, tip-induced vertical manipulation of potassium atoms during imaging, i.e. elastic atomic manipulation, and reflects the ultrasoft properties of the surface under strain. The method may be generally applicable to other soft e.g. molecular or biomolecular systems.
authors: 1] Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK [2] School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, PR China.
authors: Feng
authors: F
authors: Yin
authors: Nanoscience Center, Department of Physics, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
authors: Pekka
authors: P
authors: Koskinen
authors: 1] Department of Physics, Tampere University of Technology, FI-33101 Tampere, Finland [2] COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.
authors: Sampo
authors: S
authors: Kulju
authors: 1] Department of Physics, Tampere University of Technology, FI-33101 Tampere, Finland [2] COMP Centre of Excellence, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland.
authors: Jaakko
authors: J
authors: Akola
authors: Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
authors: Richard E
authors: RE
authors: Palmer
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