S. D. Borisova

Efficient step-mediated intercalation of silver atoms deposited on the Bi2Se3 surface

The intercalation of silver atoms into the van der Waals gap of the prototypical three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3 is studied by means of ab initio total-energy calculations. Two possible intercalation mechanisms are examined: penetration from the terrace under the step and penetration via interstitials and/or vacancies of the surface quintuple layer block. It is shown that the former mechanism is strongly preferred over the latter one due to significant energy gain appearing at the step. According to performed estimations, the room temperature diffusion length of silver atoms reaches ten microns within a couple of minutes both on the surface and within the van der Waals gap, which essentially exceeds a typical distance between steps. These results shed light on the mechanism of intercalation of metal atoms deposited on the Bi2Se3 surface.

Structure and analysis of atomic vibrations in clusters of Cu n (n ≤ 20)

The binding energy, equilibrium geometry, and vibration frequencies of free clusters Cun (2 ≤ n ≤ 20) are calculated using the potentials of interatomic interactions found using the tight-binding approximation. The nonmonotonic dependence of the clusters’ minimum vibration frequency on their sizes and the extreme values for the number of atoms in a cluster n = 4, 6, 13, and 19 is demonstrated. It is noted that this result agrees with the theoretical and experimental data on stable structures of small and medium metallic clusters.

Structure and vibrational properties of cobalt clusters (n ≤ 20)

The binding energies and vibration frequencies of free small cobalt clusters containing up to twenty atoms inclusive have been calculated using the interatomic interaction potential obtained in the tight-binding approximation. The minimum frequency of the cluster vibrations has been shown to play the determining role in the evaluation of its dynamic stability. The analysis of the energy parameters and vibrations of clusters has demonstrated that the cobalt clusters in which the number of atoms is n = 4, 6, 13, and 19 are stable.

Electron-phonon interaction in the quantum well state of the 1 ML Na/Cu(111) system

The electron-phonon interaction in the quantum well state formed by a Na monolayer coating on Cu(111) is investigated theoretically. The calculations show that the electron-phonon coupling constant γ in this state decreases insignificantly (≈1%) compared to the value of γ for a clean copper surface. The corresponding electron-phonon contribution to the lifetime τ of the quantum well state increases by a factor of 1.5 compared to τ for the clean Cu(111) surface.

Dimers of heavy p-elements of groups IV–VI: Electronic, vibrational, and magnetic properties

Equilibrium lengths and binding energies, vibrational frequencies, width of the HOMO–LUMO gap, and the magnetic anisotropy energies for one- and two-component dimers of heavy p elements of Groups IV (Sn, Pb), V (Sb, Bi), and VI (Se, Te) with a pronounced relativistic effect have been calculated with the use of the formalism of the density functional theory. It has been shown that it is necessary to take into account the spin–orbit coupling, which significantly affects the energy parameters of clusters. The analysis of the data obtained has revealed that the Pb–Te, Pb–Se, Sn–Te, and Sn–Se dimers have the widest gap at the Fermi level and the lowest reactivity. The magnetic anisotropy energy has been calculated for all single- and doublecomponent dimers and the direction of the easy magnetization axis has been determined.

Vibrational properties of small cobalt clusters on the Cu(111) surface

Vibrational properties of small cobalt clusters (dimer and trimer) adsorbed on the Cu(111) surface are studied using interatomic interaction potentials obtained in a tight-binding approximation. The complete (lateral and vertical) relaxation of the surface, the local phonon density of states, and the polarization of vibration modes of clusters and atoms of the substrate are discussed. It is shown that the adsorption of small cobalt clusters leads to a local modification of the vibrational properties of the substrate surface and to excitation of new vibration modes localized on both the cluster adatoms and substrate surface atoms. An increase in the cluster size causes a decrease in the intensity of peaks of the local density of states and their broadening and also a shift in the frequencies of the peaks.

Atomic structure and phonons of a Pb ultrathin film on the Al(100) surface

The atomic and phonon structures of a Pb ultrathin film on the Al(100) surface have been theoretically studied. Surface relaxation, local density of vibrational states, and polarization of the phonon modes of adatoms and atoms of a substrate have been discussed. It has been shown that the adsorption of Pb results in the oscillating relaxation of the surface of the substrate and warping of the structure in subsurface layers. Comparative analysis of the vibrational characteristics of the pure surface of the substrate and the surface with adatoms has shown that the adsorptive interaction in the system and its dynamic stability are governed by new vibrational modes that are not inherent in pure Al and Pb surfaces.

Small Al clusters on the Cu(111) surface: Atomic relaxation and vibrational properties

The relaxation and vibrational properties of both Al clusters and the (111) surface of a copper sub-strate were studied using the interatomic interaction potentials obtained in a tight-binding approximation. The presence of small aluminum clusters led to modification of the vibrational states of the substrate, a shift of the Rayleigh mode, and excitation of new Z-polarized modes. Hybridized modes localized on the cluster adatoms and the neighboring atoms of the substrate were found in the phonon spectrum. The localized dipole-active modes of the cluster and their strong hybridization with vibrations of the substrate points to desorption stability of the tri- and heptaatomic clusters.

Vibrational properties of the Pt(111)-p(2 × 2)-K surface superstructure

The vibrational spectra of the Pt(111)-p(2 × 2)-K ordered surface superstructure formed on the platinum surface upon adsorption of 0.25 potassium monolayer are calculated using the interatomic interaction potentials obtained within the tight-binding approximation. The surface relaxation, the dispersion of surface phonons, the local density of surface vibrational states, and the polarization of vibrational modes of adatoms and substrate atoms are discussed. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the recently obtained experimental data.

Submonolayer adsorption of Na onto the Cu(110) surface: Structure and vibrational properties

The submonolayer adsorption of Na onto the Cu(110) surface is studied. At small Na coverages (Θ = 0.16–0.25 ML), the substrate surface subjected to missing-row reconstruction (1 × 2) is shown to be most stable dynamically. When the coverage increases to Θ = 0.5 ML, the unreconstructed substrate surface with a c(2 × 2) sodium adlayer becomes dynamically stable. For an analysis, we used data on the equilibrium atomic configuration, the adsorption energy, the phonon spectra, the local density of phonon states, and the polarization of localized vibrational modes. All calculations were performed using the interatomic potentials obtained in terms of the embedded-atom method. The calculated frequencies of localized vibrational modes agree well with the existing experimental data.