X-ray crystallographic studies of Pb monolayers on Cu(110) surfaces

Abstract

Grazing-incidence x-ray crystallographic studies of Pb monolayers on Cu(110) surfaces have been performed and the unit cells of the commensurate p(5×1) phase and the incommensurate phase have been determined. We find that the commensurate Pb phase forms a unit cell that consists of four Pb atoms and the incommensurate Pb layer has a unit cell of two atoms with a slightly larger near-neighbor spacing. In addition, we find large static displacements perpendicular to the [11¯0] troughs for both phases which may account for some of the unusual two-dimensional melting phenomena observed in this system.