Adsorption geometry of Cu(111)-Cs studied by scanning tunneling microscopy

TL;DR

This study uses low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy to analyze the adsorption geometry of cesium on Cu(111), revealing ordered and incommensurate structures influenced by surface state electrons and epitaxial rotation.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the adsorption structures and rotation behaviors of Cs on Cu(111), highlighting the role of surface electrons and superstructure formation.

Findings

Hexagonally ordered Cs layer with 1.1 nm spacing at low coverage

Incommensurate superstructures at intermediate coverages

Adsorption layers rotate towards substrate alignment with increasing coverage

Abstract

Using scanning tunneling microscopy at low temperatures we investigated the adsorbate system Cu(111)-Cs for various cesium coverages. At low coverages we observe a hexagonally ordered Cs adsorption layer with a mutual adsorbate distance of 1.1 nm. This distance is discussed in terms of a commensurate adsorption superstructure which is stabilized by long-range adsorbate interactions mediated by Cu(111) surface state electrons. Intermediate coverages are characterized by incommensurate superstructures which are rotated with respect to the substrate lattice. The rotation behavior at 9K follows a general trend which is consistent with models of epitaxial rotation. With increasing coverage the adsorption layers are found to rotate toward alignment with the substrate.