Alkaline-earth overlayers on furrowed transition metal surfaces: An example of tailoring the surface properties

Alkaline-earth (AE) layers adsorbed on furrowed transition metal surfaces are remarkable for a variety of their atomic structures thus offering a good possibility for exploring the interplay between atomic and electronic structures as well as dynamic properties of surfaces. As the coverage increases, the commensurate-incommensurate transition in the AE layers is accompanied by the nonmetal-to-metal transition (NMT) in the films which leads to dramatic changes in characteristics of photoemission and surface diffusion thus enabling one to tailor the surface properties. The calculations for one-dimensionally compressing monolayers elucidate some important features of the NMT in such adsorbed films. These findings have been exploited to develop effective Mg-Ba alloy photocathodes.