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American Physical Society, Physical Review Letters, 1(92), 2004

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.92.016101

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Creation of an Atomic Superlattice by Immersing Metallic Adatoms in a Two-Dimensional Electron Sea

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Cerium adatoms, deposited on a Ag(111) surface, are found by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy to self-assemble into large ordered hexagonal arrays covering macroscopically the entire surface. We show that the 32 A periodicity of the superlattice is caused by the interaction of surface-state electrons with Ce adatoms and that the large-scale formation of the superlattice is governed by a subtle balance between the sample temperature, the surface diffusion barrier, and the concentration-dependent adatom interaction potential.