Spin-resolved photoemission from epitaxial Au layers on Pt(111): Coverage dependence of the bandstructure and evidence of surface resonances

Abstract

Au/Pt(111) has been studied by spin-, angle- and energy-resolved photoemission with normal incident circularly polarized synchrotron radiation of BESSY and normal photoelectron emission for different Au coverages. The prepared layers were characterized by LEED and Augerelectron spectroscopy and turned out to grow up two dimensional and epitaxially. In the photoemission experiments the development of the 3-dimensional bandstructure in the Λ-direction could be observed. For a coverage of 2.6 layers the highest occupied spin-orbit split bands are located at about 0.6 eV lower binding energy than the corresponding bands for a 3D-Au crystal and show dispersion which is, however, weaker than in a 3D-Au crystal. A 5 layer Au adsorbate was found to have already the same dispersion and energetic location as a Au(111)-crystal. For thick gold layers, which behave in photoemission like Au(111)-crystals, we find structures that cannot be due to direct transitions into a free electron like final band. The coverage dependence and spin polarization of these structures show that some of them are due to surface resonances, while the origin of one strong peak could not yet be explained conclusively. In addition we find strong hybridization and two avoided crossings in the occupied part of the bandstructure.