Experimental and theoretical evidence of a highly ordered two-dimensional Sn/Ag alloy on Si111.

The existence of a highly ordered, two-dimensional, Sn/Ag alloy on Si(111) is reported in this study. We present detailed atomic and electronic structures of the one atomic layer thick alloy, exhibiting a 2 × 2 periodicity. The electronic structure is metallic due to a free-electron-like surface band dispersing across the Fermi level. By electron doping, the electronic structure can be converted into a semiconducting state. A rotated Sn trimer constitutes the key structural element that could be identified by a detailed analysis of constant energy contours derived from the free-electron-like band.

Abrupt rotation of the Rashba spin to the direction perpendicular to the surface.

The polarization vector of the Rashba spin, which must be parallel to the two-dimensional (2D) plane in an ideal system, is found to change abruptly and definitely to the direction perpendicular to the surface at the K point of the Brillouin zone of a real hexagonal system, the Tl/Si(111)-(1x1) surface. This finding obtained experimentally by angle-resolved and spin-resolved photoemission measurements is fully confirmed by a first-principles theoretical calculation. We found that the abrupt rotation of the Rashba spin is simply understood by the 2D symmetry of the hexagonal structure.