Author(s)

Etienne Urbain¹, Guillaume Garreau², Patrick Wetzel², Samy Boukari¹, Eric Beaurepaire¹, Martin Bowen¹, Wolfgang Weber¹

¹Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
²Université de Haute-Alsace, CNRS, Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse, Mulhouse, France.

The influence of a Co or phthalocyanine (Pc) molecular overlayer on the properties of quantum-well resonances (QWR) in Cu layers atop Co(001) is studied by means of spin-polarized electron reflection. For Co atoms and Pc molecules, an energy shift of the QWR-induced signal is observed with increasing coverage and is attributed to a variation of the electron reflection phase at the Cu/Co and Cu/Pc interface. For Co we find a linear energy shift in the Cu QWR energy position with increasing coverage down to the sub-monolayer regime. This shows that the phase accumulation model remains accurate within the sub-monolayer regime of a discontinuous interface. An opposite sign in the energy shift between Co and Pc overlayers could reflect an opposite impact on the Cu surface work function of overlayer adsorption.

Quantum-Well Resonances, Spin-Polarized Electron Reflection

Urbain, E. , Garreau, G. , Wetzel, P. , Boukari, S. , Beaurepaire, E. , Bowen, M. and Weber, W. (2018) Co and Phthalocyanine Overlayers on the Quantum-Well System Co(001)/Cu: Spin-Polarized Electron Reflection Experiments. Journal of Modern Physics, 9, 976-984. doi: 10.4236/jmp.2018.95060.