Spin-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy studies of image-potential states on Gr/Fe/Ir(111) show their sensitivity to the spatial variation of the Gr-Fe distance, and of the interfacial charge and spin transfer within the moir\'e unit cell. A stacking contrast between fcc and hcp sites, indistinguishable in the direct tunneling mode, is provided by the image-potential states in both resonant tunneling topography and spectroscopy images. The spin-polarized measurements reveal a site- and energy-dependent spin-polarization of the image-potential states that is mapped across the moir\'e unit cell with a spin contrast between hcp and fcc sites unobservable in direct tunneling mode. On the on-top sites, the lowest image-potential states are found to exhibit a high spin-polarization, in contrast to the electronic states around the Fermi energy evanescent into vacuum, and attributed to their interfacial character at the respective Gr-Fe distance. Since the physisorbed graphene is only weakly spin-polarized on these sites, image-potential states reflect the spin density at buried interfaces covered by non-magnetic passivation layers. The simultaneous imaging of structural, electronic and magnetic properties, both at the surface and the buried interface will prove invaluable in research of 2D hybrids and heterostructures.
@article{arxiv.2503.08413,
title = {Image-potential states on a 2D Gr-ferromagnet hybrid: enhancing spin and stacking sensing},
author = {Maciej Bazarnik and Anika Schlenhoff},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.08413},
year = {2025}
}