Strain effect on local electronic properties of Fe nanoislands grown on Au(111)

The electronic properties of Fe islands grown on reconstructed Au(111) were investigated by means of scanning tunneling spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations. A characteristic peak measured in the electron local density of states at Fermi level indicates the presence of a nondispersive minority Fe d_z2 state. The peak energy was measured to shift from occupied to unoccupied states as a function of position within Fe islands. We related this effect to the reconstruction-induced local Fe-Fe bond length variation.