Theory of anomalous corrugation of the Al(111) surface obtained from scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

We provide an explanation of the observed anomalous corrugation of the Al(111) surface by calculating the current between the Al(111) sample and tip. An atomically sharp tip images the corrugation of the surface potential, which is enhanced by the tip-induced modifications of the electronic structure. At very small separations the effective barrier due to the lateral confinement of current-carrying states dominates the tunneling, however. This may lead to inversion of the corrugation.