Surface Diffusion of Cr Adatoms on Au(111) by Quantum Tunneling

The low-temperature surface diffusion of isolated Cr adatoms on Au(111) has been determined using nonperturbing x rays. Changes in the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectral line shape together with Monte Carlo calculations demonstrate that adatom nucleation proceeds via quantum tunneling diffusion rather than over-barrier hopping for temperatures <40K. The jump rates are shown to be as much as 35 orders of magnitude higher than that expected for thermal over-barrier hopping at 10 K.