Photon emission spectroscopy of individual oxide-supported silver clusters in a scanning tunneling microscope

Photon emission spectra of individual alumina-supported silver clusters have been measured for the first time. The light emission stimulated by electron injection from the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope can be assigned to the (1,0) mode of the Mie-plasmon resonance in small silver particles. As cluster sizes decrease, the resonance position shifts to higher energies and the linewidth increases. In the size range examined (1.5-12 nm), intrinsic size effects are discussed as possible origins for the observed size dependence of the Mie resonance.     

Simulation of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy images of nanoscale non-collinear magnetic structures

We apply an efficient method to calculate spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) images of nanostructures with complex non-collinear magnetic order. The model is based on the spin-polarized version of the Tersoff–Hamann model of STM and the independent orbital approximation for the surface electronic structure. For its application, only the knowledge of the arrangement of the magnetic moments of the surface atoms is required. In spite of its simplifications, calculated SP-STM images of periodic collinear and non-collinear magnetic spin structures are in many cases in excellent agreement with those obtained from computationally much more demanding ab initio calculations. Especially for surfaces of chemically equivalent atoms, the atomic scale SP-STM images are dominated by the magnetic structure and depend much less on the accurate electronic structure. This suggests the application of the method to more complex non-collinear magnetic structures such as domain walls in antiferromagnets, spin-spiral states, spin glasses, or disordered states. Based on the model, we predict SP-STM images of helical spin-spiral states in ultra-thin films. PACS 68.37; 75.70; 75.30     

An artefact in scanning tunneling microscopy images of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

An artefact with a structure that appears as an ordered array of chains, several 1000 Å long and with distances of between 10 Å and 30 Å in STM images of HOPG is reported. The artefact, which emerges from a too low point density in the scanning grid during data aquisition in the scanning tunneling microscope, is explained using the atomically resolved image, the orientation of the substrate in the STM, the sequential character of data acquisition in scanning tunneling microscopy together with the limited number of data points for the reconstruction of STM images and related image-processing problems, and the specific noise spectrum of the tunneling current. The identification of the artefact is verified by a computer simulation of the STM images, which reproduces the experimental data in detail.     

Photon emission with the scanning tunneling microscope

By placing a photon detector near the tip-sample region of a scanning tunneling microscope, we have measured isochromat photon-emission spectra of polycrystalline tantalum and Si(111)7×7 at photon energies of 9.5 eV. Such spectra contain electronic-structure information comparable to inverse photoemission spectroscopy, but with high lateral/spatial resolution. The implications of this new observation are discussed.     

Numerical simulation of nanoparticle images in scanning near-field optical microscopy

The images of magnetic and nonmagnetic nanoparticles obtained by scanning near-field microscopy in the photon collection mode are numerically simulated. A theoretical approach that uses tensor electrodynamic Green’s functions to find the optical near field in a given observation scheme is considered. Typicalimages of nanoparticles with various shapes are obtained by numerical simulation. Subject to boundary conditions, the plane of polarization is shown to change at topographic features (edges and angles) of objects studied. This makes the observation of the magnetic structure of a nanoparticle with a magnetooptic method difficult. The near-field study of the magnetization distribution in homogeneous thin films appears to be more effective, since the rotation of plane of polarization is associated primarily with the magnetic properties of the sample in this case.     

Polarization-dependent contrast of near-field and far-field-propagating signal intensities in C-mode scanning near-field optical microscopy/photon scanning tunneling microscopy

A recent paper by Nayaet al. (Opt. Commun.124 (1996) 9) presented high-resolution imaging results obtained in the sub-100-nm range with a collection-mode near-field optical microscope. The images exhibit apparent polarization dependence. A simple modeling and calculation based on the experiment, using a semi-microscopic and perturbative approach, showed that the far-field-propagating signal intensity converted from the near-field can qualitatively explain the polarization dependence of the experiment if the taper angle of the probe tip is taken into account.     

First-principles theory of scanning tunneling microscopy

Scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS), which has been so epoch-making in surface science experiments introduced many challenging problems also to the theory of condensed matter physics. Recent progress in theories of STM/STS contributed to revealing the relation between the atomic structure of the tip and the STM/STS data, and to clarify various strange phenomena observed. The present article reviews various important issues of the fundamentals of STM/STS from theoretical view points.

After surveying the so far presented theoretical approaches, the first-principles simulation method based on the microscopic electronic state of both the sample surface and the tip is introduced. Several examples of the simulation such as graphite and Si surfaces, are described. Some novel phenomena of the microscopic tunnel system of STM such as the negative differential resistance in STS and single electron tunneling through fine supported particles are also discussed, as well as the many-body effect or electron-phonon coupling effect on STM/STS.     

Photon tunneling scanning image separation method and instrument

A patent for the new photon scanning tunneling microscopy (PSTM) is described in this paper, called the Tunneling Scanning Image Separation Method and Instrument. We call the new instrument described here the Image Separated-PSTM (IS-PSTM). There may be some false image information with the first generation PSTM in the mixed image of the topography and refractive index of a general optical sample. With this new method and instrument we can eliminate this false image information and separate the surface topography image and the distribution image of varying refractive indices of a general optical sample from a mixed image of PSTM.     

Electronic structure of MgO-supported Au clusters: quantum dots probed by scanning tunneling microscopy

We investigate via density functional theory (DFT) the appearance of small MgO-supported gold clusters with 8 to 20 atoms in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) experiment. Comparison of simulations of ultrathin films on a metal support with a bulk MgO leads to similar results for the cluster properties relevant for STM. Simulated STM pictures show the delocalized states of the cluster rather than the atomic structure. This finding is due to the presence of s- derived delocalized states of the cluster near the Fermi energy. The properties of theses states can be understood from a jellium model for monovalent gold.     

Interpretation of scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy images of 1T-TiS2

The surface of 1T-TiS₂ was examined by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The STM and AFM images of this compound were interpreted on the basis of the partial electron density ρ(r,E_F) and total electron density ρ(r) of a slab which consists of six (001) 1T-TiS₂ layers. Electronic structure calculations were performed using the ab-initio Hartree–Fock program crystal. It was found that the bright spots in experimental STM images correspond to sulfur atoms at both positive and negative bias voltages. The AFM image showed a periodicity which can be explained by the atomic corrugation at the surface. Structural defects on the surface were also investigated, and their interpretation constitutes experimental proof that only sulfur atoms were detected by scanning probe microscopies.     

Photon emission from polycrystalline Ag induced by scanning tunneling microscopy: comparison of different tip materials

Photon emission from polycrystalline silver induced by scanning tunneling microscopy is studied for three different tip materials (Au, PtIr and W). Photon emission intensity curves as a function of the tip voltage are observed to be almost identical for platinum-iridium alloy and gold tips (and more than 10 times enhanced as compared with the tungsten tip). An evolution in topography and photon map for different applied voltages is investigated along with the study of the spatial distribution of photon emission in dependence upon the surface local differential height. It turns out that no clear correlation between a local curvature and enhancement of light emission can be found. Simultaneous measurements of tunneling current and photon intensity as a function of vertical tip displacement confirm the earlier observation, namely, that similar apparent barrier heights exist for both elastic and inelastic tunneling channels. The role of the tip material as well as its shape is discussed.     

能量与空间分辨的单分子显微术--透过碳笼"看"富勒烯包合物内的金属原子

文章作者用探测扫描隧道电流微分谱的方法，对金属富勒烯包合物分子进行了研究，得到了Dy@C82同分异构体Ⅰ的金属-碳笼杂化态在实空间的能量分布图，通过将实验与理论模拟的结果进行比较，推断出Dy原子在碳笼中的位置以及金属富勒烯包合物分子在衬底表面的吸附取向．这项技术为单分子纳米器件的表征和诊断提供了新的途径．