The surfaces of antimony are characterized by the presence of spin-split states within the projected bulk band gap and the Fermi contour is thus expected to exhibit a spin texture. Using spin-resolved density functional theory calculations, we determ
ine the spin polarization of the surface bands of Sb(110). The existence of the unconventional spin texture is corroborated by the investigations of the electron scattering on this surface. The charge interference patterns formed around single scattering impurities, imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy, reveal the absence of direct backscattering signal. We identify the allowed scattering vectors and analyze their bias evolution in relation to the surface-state dispersion.
We study heating and heat dissipation of a single c60 molecule in the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) by measuring the electron current required to thermally decompose the fullerene cage. The power for decomposition varies with elec
tron energy and reflects the molecular resonance structure. When the STM tip contacts the fullerene the molecule can sustain much larger currents. Transport simulations explain these effects by molecular heating due to resonant electron-phonon coupling and molecular cooling by vibrational decay into the tip upon contact formation.
