Vibrational dynamics and surface structure of Bi(111) from helium atom scattering measurements

Electron-Phonon Coupling Strength at Metal Surfaces Directly Determined from the Helium Atom Scattering Debye-Waller Factor

A new quantum-theoretical derivation of the elastic and inelastic scattering probability of He atoms from a metal surface, where the energy and momentum exchange with the phonon gas can occur only through the mediation of the surface free-electron density, shows that the Debye-Waller exponent is directly proportional to the electron-phonon mass coupling constant λ. The comparison between the values of λ extracted from existing data on the Debye-Waller factor for various metal surfaces and the λ values known from literature indicates a substantial agreement, which opens the possibility of directly extracting the electron-phonon coupling strength in quasi-2D conducting systems from the temperature or incident energy dependence of the elastic helium atom scattering intensities.

Surface Structure of Bi(111) from Helium Atom Scattering Measurements. Inelastic Close-Coupling Formalism

Elastic and inelastic close-coupling (CC) calculations have been used to extract information about the corrugation amplitude and the surface vibrational atomic displacement by fitting to several experimental diffraction patterns. To model the three-dimensional interaction between the He atom and the Bi(111) surface under investigation, a corrugated Morse potential has been assumed. Two different types of calculations are used to obtain theoretical diffraction intensities at three surface temperatures along the two symmetry directions. Type one consists of solving the elastic CC (eCC) and attenuating the corresponding diffraction intensities by a global Debye-Waller (DW) factor. The second one, within a unitary theory, is derived from merely solving the inelastic CC (iCC) equations, where no DW factor is necessary to include. While both methods arrive at similar predictions for the peak-to-peak corrugation value, the variance of the value obtained by the iCC method is much better. Furthermore, the more extensive calculation is better suited to model the temperature induced signal asymmetries and renders the inclusion for a second Debye temperature for the diffraction peaks futile.

Helium atom scattering investigation of the Sb(111) surface

The Sb(111) surface was studied with helium atom scattering (HAS). Elastic HAS at different energies of the incident helium beam (15.3, 21.9, 28.4 meV) was applied for structural investigations. The lattice constants derived from the positions of the observed diffraction peaks up to third order were found to be in perfect agreement with previous structure determinations of Sb(111). The observed diffraction patterns with clear peaks up to second order were used to model the electronic surface corrugation with the GR method. As an estimation for the attractive part of the interaction potential a well depth of (4.0 ± 0.5) meV was found. Best fit results were obtained with a corrugation height of 12-13% of the lattice constant, which is rather large compared to other surfaces with metallic character. Intensity measurements of the specular peak as a function of incident energy were analysed to determine the distribution of terraces on the surface. The results show a quite flat Sb(111) surface and a step height of 3.81 Å of the remaining terraces.

Topologically protected quantum transport in locally exfoliated bismuth at room temperature

We report electrical conductance measurements of Bi nanocontacts created by repeated tip-surface indentation using a scanning tunneling microscope at temperatures of 4 and 300 K. As a function of the elongation of the nanocontact, we measure robust, tens of nanometers long plateaus of conductance G0 = 2e2/h at room temperature. This observation can be accounted for by the mechanical exfoliation of a Bi(111) bilayer, a predicted quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator, in the retracing process following a tip-surface contact. The formation of the bilayer is further supported by the additional observation of conductance steps below G0 before breakup at both temperatures. Our finding provides the first experimental evidence of the possibility of mechanical exfoliation of Bi bilayers, the existence of the QSH phase in a two-dimensional crystal, and, most importantly, the observation of the QSH phase at room temperature.