The structure of the Pt50Ni50(100) surface was investigated by low ene
rgy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (
STM). Superstructures corresponding to 12 x 1 and 19 x 1 reconstructio
ns were observed in the LEED pattern, and these reconstructions were i
dentified with atomic resolution by STM. The reconstructed surface lay
er has a quasi-hexagonal atomic mesh with almost (111) atomic density
and is divided into terraces and domains the size of which can be more
than a thousand angstroms. The domains are corrugated with protrusion
s made up by 5 x 1 subunits of the quasi-hexagonal mesh and with valle
ys containing depressed atoms or 2 x 1 subunits. The 12 x 1 and 19 x 1
periodicities are determined by the sequence of valleys; depending on
the thermal treatment, one or the other dominates but both generally
coexist on the terrace. Owing to the complexity of the structure, LEED
calculations were performed for a simplified model with surface atoms
situated in a planar net and uniform quasi-hexagonal meshes. We find
that in both reconstructions the two surface layers are significantly
enriched with platinum. The top layer enrichment is consistent with pr
evious Auger measurements.