Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Self-lacing atom chains

Harold J W Zandvliet, Arie van Houselt and Bene Poelsema

Show affiliations


The structural and electronic properties of self-lacing atomic chains on Pt modified Ge(001) surfaces have been studied using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy. The self-lacing chains have a cross section of only one atom, are perfectly straight, thousands of atoms long and virtually defect free. The atomic chains are composed of dimers that have their bonds aligned in a direction parallel to the chain direction. At low temperatures the atomic chains undergo a Peierls transition: the periodicity of the chains doubles from a 2 × to a 4 × periodicity and an energy gap opens up. Furthermore, at low temperatures (T<80 K) novel quasi-one-dimensional electronic states are found. These quasi-one-dimensional electronic states originate from an electronic state of the underlying terrace that is confined between the atomic chains.


PACS

68.43.Fg Adsorbate structure (binding sites, geometry)

72.15.Nj Collective modes (e.g., in one-dimensional conductors)

68.37.Ef Scanning tunneling microscopy (including chemistry induced with STM)

71.30.+h Metal-insulator transitions and other electronic transitions

73.20.At Surface states, band structure, electron density of states

68.47.Fg Semiconductor surfaces

Subjects

Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical

Semiconductors

Surfaces, interfaces and thin films

Dates

Issue 47 (25 November 2009)

Received 17 March 2009, in final form 3 May 2009

Published 5 November 2009



  1. Self-lacing atom chains

    Harold J W Zandvliet et al 2009 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21 474207

  2. Modification of pinch instability theory for analysis of spray mode in GMAW

    Ah-Young Park et al 2009 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 42 225503

  3. Gravitational waves versus cosmic strings

    Kostas Kleidis 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 189 012021

  4. Laser-induced assembly of gold nanoparticles into colloidal crystals

    N Harris et al 2007 Nanotechnology 18 365301

  5. Multicollision character of recombination of H3+ ions in afterglow plasma

    J Glosik et al 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 192 012005

  6. Dynamics of wetting

    Gary S Grest et al 2009 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21 460302

  7. Study of the atomic structure and morphology of the Pt3Co nanocatalyst

    G Greco et al 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 190 012168

  8. Enhancing superplasticity of engineering ceramics by introducing BN nanotubes

    Qing Huang et al 2007 Nanotechnology 18 485706

  9. A summation formula over the zeros of a combination of the associated Legendre functions with a physical application

    A A Saharian 2009 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 42 465210

  10. Photovoltaic properties of a ZnO nanorod array affected by ethanol and liquid-crystalline porphyrin

    Qidong Zhao et al 2008 Nanotechnology 19 245706

Related review articles

What's this?
View review articles related to this research to gain an insight into the key trends in this subject area. Related review articles are selected based on PACS/MSC codes, and are no more than three years old.

  1. Competing interactions in molecular adsorption: NH3 on Si(001)

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.