Diffractive-wave guiding of surface electrons on Au(111) by the herringbone reconstruction potential

Abstract

The surface potential of the herringbone reconstruction on Au(111) is known to guide surface-state electrons along the potential channels. Surprisingly, we find by scanning tunneling spectroscopy that hot electrons with kinetic energies twenty times larger than the potential amplitude (38 meV) are still guided. The efficiency even increases with kinetic energy, which is reproduced by a tight-binding calculation taking the known reconstruction potential and strain into account. The guiding is explained by diffraction at the inhomogeneous electrostatic potential and strain distribution provided by the reconstruction.