Imaging Xe with a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope

Abstract

We have obtained images of individual Xe atoms adsorbed on a Ni(110) surface using a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The atom-on-jellium model has been used to calculate the apparent height of a Xe atom as imaged with the STM and the result is found to be in good agreement with experiment. We conclude that the Xe 6s resonance, although lying close to the vacuum level, is the origin of the Fermi-level local state density which renders Xe visible in the STM. © 1991 The American Physical Society.