Imaging three phases of iodine on Ag (111) using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy

We investigated the adsorption of iodine on silver (111) in ultra-high vacuum. Using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM) measurements we catalog complex surface structures local scale. identified three distinct phases with increasing coverage which tentatively associate previously reported LEED experiments (sqrt(3)x sqrt(3)R30, "triangular", "hexagonal"). used Fourier space and real analysis to fully characterize each phase. While most easily connects our previous studies, inspection reveals variations superstructures "hexagonal" "triangular" The latter, observed here for first time by LT-STM, stabilized one or two adatoms sitting at center a rosette-like reconstruction. stunning discovery is that variation adatom separation phase reconstruct Ag lattice.