Spin-momentum locking in the surface mode of topological insulators (TI) leads to the surface accumulation of spin-polarized electrons caused by bias current flows through TI samples. Here, we demonstrate that scanning tunneling microscopy can be used to sense this surface spin-polarized electron accumulation. We present experimental results of this sensing for Sn-doped Bi$_2$Se$_3$ samples by employing Fe-coated W tips as well as non-magnetic W tips. We observe a linear increase in the spin-accumulation as a function of bias current through TI samples.
The results of scanning tunneling microscopy experiments using iron-coated tungsten tips and current-carrying bismuth selenide ($Bi_2Se_3$) samples are reported. Asymmetry in tunneling currents with respect to the change in the direction of bias currents through $Bi_2Se_3$ samples has been observed. It is argued that this asymmetry is the manifestation of surface spin-polarized electron accumulation caused by the ninety-degree electron spin-momentum locking in the topologically protected surface current mode. It is demonstrated that the manifestation of surface spin-polarized electron accumula…
We demonstrate the emergence of classical features in electronic quantum transport for the scanning gate microscopy response in a cavity defined by a quantum point contact and a micron-sized circular reflector. The branches in electronic flow characteristic of a quantum point contact opening on a two-dimensional electron gas with weak disorder are folded by the reflector, yielding a complex spatial pattern. Considering the deflection of classical trajectories by the scanning gate tip allows to establish simple relationships of the scanning pattern, which are in agreement with recent experiment…
A scanning tunneling microscopy based potentiometry technique for the measurements of the local surface electric potential is presented and illustrated by experiments performed on current-carrying thin tungsten films. The obtained results demonstrate a sub-millivolt resolution in the measured surface potential. The application of this potentiometry technique to the local sensing of the spin Hall effect is outlined and some experimental results are reported.
We perform scanning gate microscopy on individual suspended carbon nanotube quantum dots. The size and position of the quantum dots can be visually identified from the concentric high conductance rings. For the ultra clean devices used in this study, two new effects are clearly identified. Electrostatic screening creates non-overlapping multiple sets of Coulomb rings from a single quantum dot. In double quantum dots, by changing the tip voltage, the interactions between the quantum dots can be tuned from the weak to strong coupling regime.
A technique to locally generate mechanical vibrations in freestanding graphene using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is presented. The frequency of the mechanical vibrations is tuned over nearly four decades and is centered around 10 Hz. The amplitude of the vibrations also changes over nearly three decades centered on 1 nm. The oscillating motion is generated in two ways: first, by scanning the STM tip on the surface and second, by scanning the bias voltage on the STM tip. The frequency and amplitude of the displaced freestanding graphene is quantitatively transformed to the frequency and…
Correlated electron states in high mobility two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs), including charge density waves and microemulsion phases intermediate between a Fermi liquid and Wigner crystal, are predicted to exhibit complex local charge order. Existing experimental studies, however, have mainly probed these systems at micron to millimeter scales rather than directly mapping spatial organization. Scanning probes should be well-suited to study the spatial structure of these states, but high mobility 2DESs are found at buried semiconductor interfaces, beyond the reach of conventional scann…
Atomic-scale topography of epitaxial multilayer graphene grown on 4H-SiC(0001) was investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Bunched nano-ridges ten times smaller than previously recorded were observed throughout the surface, the morphology of which was systematically altered using a relatively new technique called electrostatic-manipulation scanning tunneling microscopy. Transformed graphene formations sometimes spontaneously returned to their original morphology, while others permanently changed. Using an electrostatic model, we calculate that a force up to ~5 nN was exerted by…
We investigate the correlations of mutual positions of charge density waves nodes in side-by-side placed InAs nanowires in presence of a conductive atomic force microscope tip served as a mobile gate at helium temperatures. Scanning gate microscopy scans demonstrate mutual correlation of positions of charge density waves nodes of two wires. A general mutual shift of the nodes positions and "crystal lattice mismatch" defect were observed. These observations demonstrate the crucial role of Coulomb interaction in formation of charge density waves in InAs nanowires.
Atomic scale characterization and manipulation with scanning probe microscopy rely upon the use of an atomically sharp probe. Here we present automated methods based on machine learning to automatically detect and recondition the quality of the probe of a scanning tunneling microscope. As a model system, we employ these techniques on the technologically relevant hydrogen-terminated silicon surface, training the network to recognize abnormalities in the appearance of surface dangling bonds. Of the machine learning methods tested, a convolutional neural network yielded the greatest accuracy, ach…
We present a method capable of calculating elastic scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) currents from localized atomic orbital density functional theory (DFT). To overcome the poor accuracy of the localized orbital description of the wave functions far away from the atoms, we propagate the wave functions, using the total DFT potential. From the propagated wave functions, the Bardeen's perturbative approach provides the tunneling current. To illustrate the method we investigate carbon monoxide adsorbed on a Cu(111) surface and recover the depression/protrusion observed experimentally with normal…
We consider conductance mapping of systems based on the two-dimensional electron gas with scanning gate microscopy using two and more tips of the atomic force microscope. The paper contains results of numerical simulations for a model tip potential with a proposal of a few procedures for extraction and manipulation the ballistic transport properties. In particular, we demonstrate that the multi-tip techniques can be used for readout of the Fermi wavelength, detection of potential defects, filtering specific transverse modes, tuning the system into resonant conditions under which a stable map o…
In this work, systematic constant-bias, variable-current scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements and STM simulations from density-functional theory are made, yielding critical insights into the spatial structure of electrons in graphene. A foundational comparison is drawn between graphene and graphite, showing the surface charge density of graphene to be 300 percent that of graphite. Furthermore, simulated STM images reveal that high-current STM better resolves graphenes honeycomb bonding structure because of a retraction which occurs in the topmost dangling bond orbitals.
Implementation of atomically defined Field Ion Microscopy tips in Scanning Probe Microscopy
场离子显微镜（Field Ion Microscope，简称AFM）可用于表征尖端的原子构型。这些针尖非常适合扫描探针显微镜（SPM），因为它们预先确定SPM分辨率和光谱学的电子结构。提出了一种协议，以保护尖端顶点的原子结构从蚀刻由于气体杂质在转移期间从CO2到SPM，和估计有关的时间限制，这样的实验由于超高真空（UHV）剩余气体的污染。在避免任何电流设定点过冲以保持尖端完整性的同时，我们提出了从原子定义的钨尖端到室温下具有Au（111）、HOPG和Si（111）表面的隧穿机制的方法的结果。从这些实验中，我们得出结论，吸附原子的流动性和物理吸附的气体在样品表面上限制的选择，在隧道实验中，在室温下的尖端完整性被保存的表面。只有在隧穿到高反应性Si（111）表面后，才能保持针尖的原子结构不变。
We use Scanning Gate Microscopy to demonstrate the presence of localized states arising from potential inhomogeneities in a 50nm-wide, gate-defined conducting channel in encapsulated bilayer graphene. When imaging the channel conductance under the influence of a local tip-induced potential, we observe ellipses of enhanced conductance as a function of the tip position. These ellipses allow us to infer the location of the localized states and to study their dependence on the displacement field. For large displacement fields, we observe that localized states tend to occur halfway into the channel…
The miniaturization of semiconductor devices to the scales where small numbers of dopants can control device properties requires the development of new techniques capable of characterizing their dynamics. Investigating single dopants requires sub-nanometer spatial resolution which motivates the use of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), however, conventional STM is limited to millisecond temporal resolution. Several methods have been developed to overcome this shortcoming. Among them is all-electronic time-resolved STM, which is used in this work to study dopant dynamics in silicon with nanos…
We use scanning gate microscopy to map out the trajectories of ballistic carriers in high-mobility graphene encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride and subject to a weak magnetic field. We employ a magnetic focusing geometry to image carriers that emerge ballistically from an injector, follow a cyclotron path due to the Lorentz force from an applied magnetic field, and land on an adjacent collector probe. The local electric field generated by the scanning tip in the vicinity of the carriers deflects their trajectories, modifying the proportion of carriers focused into the collector. By measuri…
Scanning gate microscopy images from measurements made in the vicinity of quantum point contacts were originally interpreted in terms of current flow. Some recent work has analytically connected the local density of states to conductance changes in cases of perfect transmission, and at least qualitatively for a broader range of circumstances. In the present paper, we show analytically that in any time-reversal invariant system there are important deviations that are highly sensitive to imperfect transmission. Nevertheless, the unperturbed partial local density of states can be extracted from a…
Graphene nanopatterning on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) has previously been shown using both atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) based techniques, including folding of intrinsic step edges and electrochemical etching or cutting in graphene layers. We here report development of a new technique, combining electrochemical etching and folding using mechanical STM manipulation. Our technique shows unprecedented control of nanoscale folding of graphene in multiple folding steps and could be a route towards STM study of magic angle graphene with in-situ …
We describe software that simulates the hardware of a scanning force microscope. The essential feature of the software is its real-time response, which is critical for mimicking the behavior of real scanning probe hardware. The simulator runs on an open-source real time Linux kernel, and can be used to test scanning probe microscope control software as well as theoretical models of different types of scanning probe microscopes. We describe the implementation of a tuning-fork based atomic force microscope and a dc electrostatic force microscope, and present representative images obtained from t…
We grew 20-100 nm thick films of B20 FeGe by molecular beam epitaxy and investigated the surface structures via scanning tunneling microscopy. We observed the atomic resolution of each of the four possible chemical layers in FeGe(-1-1-1). An average hexagonal surface unit cell is observed via scanning tunneling microscopy, low energy electron diffraction, and reflection high energy electron diffraction resulting in a size of ~6.84 Å in agreement with the bulk expectation. Furthermore, the atomic resolution and registry across triple-layer step edges definitively determine the grain orientation…
Fourier transformation of atomically resolved STM topography of $(LaSe)_{1.14}(NbSe_2)$ revealed a surface modulation along the hexagonal surface lattice of $NbSe_2$ layer, but with a two times larger period. We compare it to the modified charge density wave found on plain $NbSe_2$ under strain.
In this paper we present scanning tunneling microscopy of a large $\textrm{Bi}_2\textrm{Se}_3$ crystal with superconducting PbBi islands deposited on the surface. Local density of states measurements are consistent with induced superconductivity in the topological surface state with a coherence length of order 540 nm. At energies above the gap the density of states exhibits oscillations due to scattering caused by a nonuniform order parameter. Strikingly, the spectra taken on islands also display similar oscillations along with traces of the Dirac cone, suggesting an inverse topological proxim…
We report the development of a scanning force microscope based on an ultra-sensitive silicon nitride membrane transducer. Our development is made possible by inverting the standard microscope geometry - in our instrument, the substrate is vibrating and the scanning tip is at rest. We present first topography images of samples placed on the membrane surface. Our measurements demonstrate that the membrane retains an excellent force sensitivity when loaded with samples and in the presence of a scanning tip. We discuss the prospects and limitations of our instrument as a quantum-limited force sens…
