Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of the ReO3 Surface

The surface of a ReO3 single crystal was studied using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) with a tungsten tip. Atomic images were taken and they revealed that the surface consists of {100} planes, and that there are many drains whose depth and width are integer multiples of the unit cell length. There are biperiodic structures on the surface coexisting with a single-period structure. The biperiodic structure may originate in the biperiodic arrangements of the top oxygen ions.