Fine structure in field emission resonances at surfaces

Abstract

SUMMARY We have measured field‐emission resonances (FER) to much higher quantum states than previously observed enabling fine structure in the resonance amplitudes to be investigated. We show that this electron wave interference effect carries additional information in the resonance amplitudes and energies and is sensitive to lateral tip position in a scanning tunnelling microscope experiment. We propose a new method of data analysis that can distinguish between some of the possible origins of the fine structure.