Evidence for Long-Range Spin Order Instead of a Peierls Transition in Si(553)-Au Chains

Abstract

Stabilization of the Si(553) surface by Au adsorption results in two different atomically defined chain types, one of Au atoms and one of Si. At low temperature these chains develop two- and threefold periodicity, respectively, previously attributed to Peierls instabilities. Here we report evidence from scanning tunneling microscopy that rules out this interpretation. The x3 superstructure of the Si chains vanishes for low tunneling bias, i.e., close the Fermi level. In addition, the Au chains remain metallic despite their period doubling. Both observations are inconsistent with a Peierls mechanism. On the contrary, our results are in excellent, detailed agreement with the Si(553)-Au ground state predicted by density-functional theory, where the x2 periodicity of the Au chain is an inherent structural feature and every third Si atom is spin-polarized.

5 pages, 4 figures (supplement not included here). Accepted for publication at Physical Review Letters on September 03, 2013

References in corpus (4)

• Fermi surface nesting and the origin of Charge Density Waves in metals
• Intrinsic magnetism at silicon surfaces
• Direct evidence of spin-split one-dimensional metallic surface state on Si(557)-Au
• Spectroscopic evidence for spin-polarized edge states in graphitic Si nanowires

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• Adsorbate induced manipulation of 1D atomic nanowires: Soliton mediated degradation of long-range order in the Si(553)-Au system
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