Preliminary results of low-energy ion scattering and low-energy electron diffraction studies of Fe3O4(100) were presented. Thin epitaxial Fe3O4(100) films were grown by O2-assisted molecular beam epitaxy of Fe on a MgO(100) substrate. low-energy electron diffraction measurements revealed a (√2 x √2)R45° reconstruction pattern as had already been reported in the literature. The surface structure on an atomic scale was studied by low-energy ion scattering. The sample surface was bombarded with 3 or 6keV Ar+ ions in a grazing-angle geometry, and azimuthal scans of the yields of the recoiled Fe and O atoms emitted at scattering angles of 37° and 53° were measured. The scans were analyzed by performing computer simulations of the scattering and recoiling of atoms for a number of trial models. The presence of two mutually perpendicular structural domains was confirmed at the surface of the grown films. Bulk Fe3O4 contained Fe atoms in tetrahedral and octahedral positions. The surface was found to be terminated by tetrahedral Fe atoms.

Surface Reconstruction of Fe3O4(100). A.V.Mijiritskii, M.H.Langelaar, D.O.Boerma: Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, 2000, 211[1-3], 278-82