First-principles theory of inelastic currents in a scanning tunneling microscope

First-principles theory of inelastic currents in a scanning tunneling microscope

A first-principles theory of inelastic tunneling between a model probe tip and an atom adsorbed on a surface is presented, extending the elastic tunneling theory of Tersoff and Hamann. The inelastic current is proportional to the change in the local density of states at the center of the tip due to the addition of the adsorbate. We use the theory to investigate the vibrational heating of an ads...

Theory of the scanning tunneling microscope.

We present a theory for tunneling between a real surface and a model probe tip, applicable to the recently developed "scanning tunneling microscope." The tunneling current is found to be proportional to the local density of states of the surface, at the position of the tip. The effective lateral resolution is related to the tip radius R and the vacuum gap distance d approximately as [(2 A)(R +d...

Simulating Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Observing spin excitations in 3d transition-metal adatoms on Pt(111) with inelastic scanning tunneling spectroscopy: A first-principles perspective

Spin excitations in atomic-scale nanostructures have been investigated with inelastic scanning tunneling spectroscopy, sometimes with conflicting results. In this work, we present a theoretical viewpoint on a recent experimental controversy regarding the spin excitations of Co adatoms on Pt(111). While one group [Balashov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 257203 (2009)] claims to have detected them...

Giant surface charge density of graphene resolved from scanning tunneling microscopy and first-principles theory

P. Xu,1 Y. Yang,1,2 S. D. Barber,1 M. L. Ackerman,1 J. K. Schoelz,1 Igor A. Kornev,3 Salvador Barraza-Lopez,1 L. Bellaiche,1 and P. M. Thibado1,* 1Department of Physics, The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA 2Physics Department, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China 3Laboratoire Structures, Proprietes et Modelisation des Solides, Ecole...