Abstract
We investigate using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy electronic aspects of Moiré superstructures in nanoscale Pb quantum films grown on IrTe2, which is a unique layered material with charge-order transitions into stripe phases. Pb ultrathin films exhibit a Moiré superstructure due to the lattice mismatch of Pb and IrTe2, which produces strong lateral electronic modulation of hexagonal symmetry and discreet subbands. Moreover, strongly anisotropic or 1D electronic states are formed in Pb films as modulated by the stripe charge order. Present results indicate the controllability of lateral electronic structures of various ultrathin films by extra interfacial potentials due not only to Moiré superstructures but also to novel electronic orderings of substrates.
Highlights
While flat islands of different heights are formed with a size of a few tens of nanometers on wide stripe domains, larger connected islands of two or three monolayer (ML) thickness preferentially grow on hexagonal domains
Pb islands on the hexagonal domain exhibit a regular and isotropic Moiré structure [Fig. 1D and center of the Fig. S1a] but a less regular pattern of a marginally different periodicity and orientation is observed on the stripe domain [Fig. 1E]
We map local density of states (LDOS) of each QWS laterally to reveal the effect of Moiré superstructures
Summary
Hyo Sung Kim[1,2], Gyeongcheol Gye[1,2], Sung-Hoon Lee 1,2, Lihai Wang[3], Sang-Wook Cheong2,3,4 & Han Woong Yeom[1,2]. This suggests that the QWS splitting in the present case is more closely related to the periodic structural distortion of the film than the direct electronic coupling with the substrate. The STM topography shows the Moiré superstructure and an extra modulation due to a stripe charge order pattern for S-Pb films [Figs 1 and 2]. The stripe LDOS pattern is related to the QWS energy splitting of about 60–140 meV (see Fig. S3 in Supporting information) This indicates the presence of a stripe potential at the interface, which competes with the hexagonal Moiré potential becomes dominating at a low energy. The proximity coupling of exotic electronic states of the substrate with those of the overlayer film may be expected at such a ‘complex’ heterointerface
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