The interference pattern of surface state electrons which were scattered from monatomic steps on the Au(111) surface was studied with scanning thermovoltage microscopy at 80K. The step contours were periodically modulated by the underlying herringbone 22 x √3 surface reconstruction and act like a long-period diffraction grating. This led to a characteristic rhomb-shaped interference pattern in front of the step (Talbot effect). A simulation of electron scattering from such steps revealed good agreement with the experiments and permitted the interpretation of earlier data in a new and consistent way. Confinement of surface states due to the reconstruction potential was ruled out as being responsible for the observed wave pattern.

Monatomic Steps on Reconstructed Au(111) - a Long-Period Diffraction Grating for Surface Electron Waves. M.Wenderoth, K.J.Engel, R.G.Ulbrich: Europhysics Letters, 2004, 67[4], 627-33