Article Title
Van Hove singularities as a result of quantum confinement: The origin of intriguing physical properties in Pb thin films
Authors
Yu Jie Sun, Key Laboratory of Atomic and Nanosciences, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
S. Souma, WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Wen Juan Li, Institute of Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
T. Sato, Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
Xie Gang Zhu, Key Laboratory of Atomic and Nanosciences, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Guang Wang, Key Laboratory of Atomic and Nanosciences, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Xi Chen, Key Laboratory of Atomic and Nanosciences, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Xu Cun Ma, Institute of Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Qi Kun Xue, Key Laboratory of Atomic and Nanosciences, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Institute of Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Jin Feng Jia, Key Laboratory of Atomic and Nanosciences, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
T. Takahashi, WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Department of Physics, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
T. Sakurai, WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Keywords
Van Hove singularity, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), Pb film
Abstract
In situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) have been used to study the electronic structure of Pb thin films grown on a Si(111) substrates. The experiments reveal that the electronic structure near the Fermi energy is dominated by a set of m-shaped subbands because of strong quantum confinement in the films, and the tops of the m-shaped subbands form an intriguing ring-like Van Hove singularity. Combined with theoretical calculations, we show that it is the Van Hove singularity that leads to an extremely high density of states near the Fermi energy and the recently reported strong oscillations (with a period of two monolayers) in various properties of Pb films.
Graphical Abstract

Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Yu Jie Sun,S. Souma,Wen Juan Li,T. Sato,Xie Gang Zhu,Guang Wang,Xi Chen,Xu Cun Ma,Qi Kun Xue,Jin Feng Jia,T. Takahashi,T. Sakurai, Van Hove singularities as a result of quantum confinement: The origin of intriguing physical properties in Pb thin films. NanoRes.2010, 3(11): 800–806