Alkaline-earth overlayers on furrowed transition metal surfaces: An example of tailoring the surface properties

Alkaline-earth (AE) layers adsorbed on furrowed transition metal surfaces a re remarkable for a variety of their atomic structures thus offering a good possibility for exploring the interplay between atomic and electronic stru ctures as well as dynamic properties of surfaces. As the coverage increases , the commensurate-incommensurate transition in the AE layers is accompanie d by the nonmetal-to-metal transition (NMT) in the films which leads to dra matic changes in characteristics of photoemission and surface diffusion thu s enabling one to tailor the surface properties. The calculations for one-d imensionally compressing monolayers elucidate some important features of th e NMT in such adsorbed films. These findings have been exploited to develop effective Mg-Ba alloy photocathodes.