The electronic properties of Fe islands grown on reconstructed Au(111) were investigated by means of scanning tunneling spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations. A characteristic peak measured in the electron local density of states at Fermi level indicates the presence of a nondispersive minority Fe $d_{z^2}$ state. The peak energy was measured to shift from occupied to unoccupied states as a function of position within Fe islands. We related this effect to the reconstruction-induced local Fe-Fe bond length variation.

• Received 2 February 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.153404