Submonolayer adsorption of potassium on reconstructed and unreconstructed Cu(110): structure and phonons

Abstract

We present a theoretical investigation of the structural and vibrational properties of the K/Cu(110) adsorbed systems using the embedded atom method. The surface relaxation, phonon dispersions, and polarization of vibrational modes as well as the local density of states have been calculated as a function of potassium coverage on reconstructed and unreconstructed Cu(110) surface. On the reconstructed surface, two K-substrate stretching modes have been found, which do not show any coverage dependence. The obtained vibrational frequencies of surface states are in close agreement with available experimental data.