Unoccupied electronic states of Fe3O4 (100): An angle-resolved inverse-photoemission study

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Abstract
We present an experimental study that offers first insights into the unoccupied electronic states of a pristine ( 2 × 2 ) R 45 ∘ reconstructed Fe 3 O 4 (100) surface. We initially demonstrate the successful sample preparation by analyzing the surface periodicity and chemical composition by low-energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy, respectively. Using angle-resolved inverse photoemission, we study the unoccupied electronic states. We observe three nondispersive emissions, one dominant feature around 2 eV above the Fermi level and two additional ones at higher energies. For the low-lying triple-split feature, we propose two possible interpretations based on former theoretical studies. We either ascribe it to 3 d -related bandgroups originating from tetrahedrally and octahedrally coordinated bulk iron atoms or attribute it to a mixture of 3 d states originating from octahedrally coordinated iron atoms within the bulk and the reconstructed surface layer. The high-lying features are ascribed to bulk bands based on the experimentally observed characteristics.
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  • Universität Bielefeld

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