A scanning tunneling microscopy based potentiometry technique and its application to the local sensing of the spin Hall effect

TL;DR

This paper introduces a STM-based potentiometry method capable of high-resolution local surface potential measurements, demonstrated on tungsten films, and applied to sensing the spin Hall effect with promising results.

Contribution

It presents a novel STM-based potentiometry technique with sub-millivolt resolution and applies it to local detection of the spin Hall effect.

Findings

Achieved sub-millivolt resolution in surface potential measurements.

Successfully demonstrated local sensing of the spin Hall effect.

Potential for high-precision local electric potential measurements.

Abstract

A scanning tunneling microscopy based potentiometry technique for the measurements of the local surface electric potential is presented and illustrated by experiments performed on current-carrying thin tungsten films. The obtained results demonstrate a sub-millivolt resolution in the measured surface potential. The application of this potentiometry technique to the local sensing of the spin Hall effect is outlined and some experimental results are reported.