Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Ultra-Thin Crystalline Films.

Microscopic electronic and magnetic properties of ultra-thin single crystal film transition elements supported on noble metal substrates have been studied with Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES), Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). It is possible to use Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) in an Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) environment to fabricate monolayer single crystal samples with lattice constants modified by the single crystal substrate. The atomic arrangements thus produced are artificial in the sense that they do not occur naturally, and they exhibit novel electronic and magnetic properties. Investigation of such systems will generate better understanding of the nature of crystal structure and ferromagnetism. Results of research on the monolayer systems Ni/Cu, Ni/Ag, Fe/Cu and V/Ag are reported. The thin film (ten atomic layers) room temperature face centered cubic iron (gamma-Fe) is also investigated.