Evidence for in-gap surface states on the single phase SmB6(001) surface. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Miyamachi, Toshio; Suga, Shigemasa; Ellguth, Martin; Tusche, Christian; Schneider, Claus; Iga, Fumitoshi; Komori, Fumio
• Is Part Of: Scientific reports. Volume 7:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 7
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Natural history -- Research -- Periodicals; Biology -- Research -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Earth sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 502.85
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12887-2
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-2322

Abstract

Abstract Structural and electronic properties of the SmB6 (001) single-crystal surface prepared by Ar+ ion sputtering and controlled annealing are investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. In contrast to the cases of cleaved surfaces, we observe a single phase surface with a non-reconstructedp (1 × 1) lattice on the entire surface at an optimized annealing temperature. The surface is identified as Sm-terminated on the basis of spectroscopic measurements. On a structurally uniform surface, the emergence of the in-gap state, a robust surface state against structural variation, is further confirmed inside a Kondo hybridization gap at 4.4 K by temperature and atomically-resolved spatial dependences of the differential conductance spectrum near the Fermi energy.