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Silicene on Ag(111): A honeycomb lattice without Dirac bands
Phys. Rev. B 89, 201416(R) – Published 30 May, 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.201416
Abstract
The discovery of () silicene formation on Ag(111) raised the question whether silicene maintains its Dirac fermion character, similar to graphene, on a supporting substrate. Previous photoemission studies indicated that the π band forms Dirac cones near the Fermi energy, while theoretical investigations found it shifted at deeper binding energy. By means of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations we show instead that the π-symmetry states lose their local character and the Dirac cone fades out. The formation of an interface state of free-electron-like Ag origin is found to account for spectral features that were theoretically and experimentally attributed to silicene bands of π character.