Abstract
The low-temperature spin-orbit density phase of Pb quantum wires on Si(557) was investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. High resolution images of this phase allow the proposal of an atomistic model for the densely-packed Pb coverages on the (223) facets. A metal-insulator phase transition was confirmed by local spectroscopy and the BCS-like gap feature of $2\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\approx}30\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\text{meV}$ at 10 K correlates with the transition temperature of ${T}_{c}=78\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\text{K}$ seen in surface transport experiments. Moreover, Pb excess coverage adds an extra row of Pb atoms on the mini-(111) terraces. These atoms induce a metallic state located at the step edge at low temperature and quench the charge and spin correlations of the spin-orbit density phase.
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