Electronic States in Vicinal Surfaces and Templates

Vicinal surfaces with periodic arrays of steps and terraces are among the simplest lateral nanostructures. They are attractive as playgrounds for testing the fundamental properties of electrons at one-dimensional superlattices and useful as growth templates for self-assembled arrays of nanostructures. In both aspects, the step superlattice tunability is essential, which can be readily achieved with curved crystal surfaces. In recent years Nanolab researchers use Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Angle Resolved Photoemission to study electronic states and growth on curved noble metal surfaces.

Left, confinement versus propagation in step lattices. Right, noble metal curved crystals.