Visualizing Quantum Well State Perturbations of Metallic Thin Films near Stacking Fault Defects

Abstract

We demonstrate that quantum well states (QWS) of thin Pb films are highly perturbed within the proximity of intrinsic film defects. Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STM/STS) measurements indicate that the energy of these states have a strong distance dependence within 4 nm of the defect with the strongest energetic fluctuations equaling up to 100 meV. These localized perturbations show large spatially-dependent asymmetries in the LDOS around the defect site for each corresponding quantum well state. These energetic fluctuations can be described by a simple model which accounts for fluctuations in the confinement potential induced by topographic changes.

Updated Version

References in corpus (4)

• Hard Superconductivity of a Soft Metal in the Quantum Regime
• Surface State Stark Shift in a Scanning Tunneling Microscope
• Atomic-Scale Structure of Dislocations Revealed by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy and Molecular Dynamics
• Adsorbate-induced Restructuring of Pb mesas Grown on Vicinal Si(111) in the Quantum Regime