14
SOLEIL
HIGHLIGHTS
2013
2013 highlights of the Surfaces, Interfaces and Nanosystems Scientific Section are
characterized by the discovery of new and exciting electronic properties. Surfaces,
interfaces and 2D materials are a key step in nanotechnology with the aim to
engineer and fabricate low-dimensional materials and nano-objects.
The research activity on graphene was applied to new 2D materials and produced
several SOLEIL highlights in 2012. All of them take advantage of electron
spectroscopy in determining the electronic properties of materials. One of them
deals with organic semiconductors, another on the role played by surfaces of
aerosols in atmospheric chemistry. All of them were possible thanks to specific
properties of synchrotron radiation and/or to the development of new kind of
experiments. Real time synchrotron-radiation-based photoemission experiment
during hydrogen exposure could identify nanotunnel opening within the subsurface
region of silicon carbide (Soukiassian et al.). In analogy with the graphene electronic
properties, nearly massless electrons belonging to 2D surface states were measured
in Ultrathin
α
-Sn(001) Films grown on InSb(001) substrates: high flux and circular
polarization of soft X-rays were used to show helical spin polarization
of the Dirac-cone-like surface states (Ohtsubo et al.).
High flux and light polarization were also used to study electronic properties in 2D
systems during a phase transitions from a paramagnetic to an antiferromagnetic state
(Lin et al.). Variable photon energy of X-ray absorption spectroscopy was applied to
atmospheric chemistry to study the surfaces of supercooled aerosols (Marcotte et al.).
Photoelectron spectroscopy was used to study the effective barrier height of
ferroelectric material under in-situ bias voltage and to probe the transient response
of the upper electrode/ferroelectric interface to polarization reversal (Rault et al.).
Activity on graphene continues on special samples and exploiting new experimental
tools available at SOLEIL: a high resolution angle and lateral resolved photoelectron
spectroscopy (nano-ARPES) (Avila et al.).
Finally, spin polarized experiments were performed on organic semiconductors:
a model spinterface between phthalocyanine molecules and a Co single crystal
surface showed a high degree of spin polarization at room temperature (Djeghloul et al.).
Fausto SIROTTI
Head of the ”Surfaces, Interfaces and Nanosystems” Scientific Section
SURFACES, INTERFACES AND NANOSYSTEMS
