Experimental Fermi surfaces of clean and hydrogen-covered W(110)

Spin-polarized Dirac-cone-like surface state with d character at W(110)

The surface of W(110) exhibits a Dirac-cone-like state with d character within a spin-orbit-induced symmetry gap. As a function of the wave vector parallel to the surface, it shows a nearly massless energy dispersion and a pronounced spin polarization, which is antisymmetric with respect to the Brillouin zone center. In addition, the observed constant energy contours are strongly anisotropic for all energies. This discovery opens new pathways to the study of surface spin-density waves arising from a strong Fermi surface nesting as well as d-electron-based topological properties.

Interface electronic complexes and Landau damping of magnons in ultrathin magnets

The damping of magnons in ultrathin metallic magnets is studied from first-principles. We contrast Fe/Cu(100) and Fe/W(110) systems for which the influence of the substrate on the magnon life time differs strongly. We introduce the concept of Landau map in momentum space to assess the role of different electronic states in the attenuation. The formation of electronic complexes localized at the film-substrate interface leads to hot spots in the Landau maps and enhances the damping. This finding allows tuning the attenuation of high-frequency magnetization dynamics in nanostructures.

An elastic "sieve" to probe momentum space: Gd chains on W(110)

Electron scattering conditions of one-dimensional nanostructures are explored in angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. Tiny increments of the Gd submonolayer coverage on W(110) lead to strong modifications in the spectra. It is shown that the Gd overlayer represents an elastic superlattice of chains which performs a systematic mapping of the electronic band dispersion of the W substrate through a quasicontinuous series of umklapp wave vectors. Conversely, a single valence-band spectrum contains essential and precise structural information readily accessible by comparison to the band dispersion.

Spin-resolved photoemission of surface states of W(110)-(1 x 1)H

The surface electronic states of W(110)-(1 x 1)H have been measured using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission. We directly demonstrate that the surface bands are both split and spin-polarized by the spin-orbit interaction in association with the loss of inversion symmetry near a surface. We observe 100% spin polarization of the surface states, with the spins aligned in the plane of the surface and oriented in a circular fashion relative to the Smacr; symmetry point. In contrast, no measurable polarization of nearby bulk states is observed.

Coupling between adsorbate vibrations and an electronic surface state

We report direct angle-resolved photoemission measurements of the coupling between the symmetric stretch vibrational mode of adsorbed hydrogen and a surface band on W(110). This coupling is manifested by the surface band being split into two branches at a binding energy comparable to the vibrational mode energy, as confirmed by observation of a dramatic hydrogen/deuterium isotope effect. The electron-phonon coupling parameter lambda is found to be significantly larger than that for bulk W, and to be closely related to the degree of surface localization of the surface state wave function.