  Recently, a giant spin splitting has been observed in surface alloys on noble
metal (111) surfaces as a result of a strong structural modification at the
surface as well as the large atomic spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of the alloy
atoms. These surface alloys are an ideal playground to manipulate both the size
of the spin splitting as well as the position of the Fermi level as it is
possible to change the atomic SOI as well as the relaxation by varying alloy
atoms and substrates. Using spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
in combination with quantitative low energy electron diffraction we have
studied the mixed binary Bi(x)Sb(1-x)/Ag(111) and the mixed ternary
Bi(x)Pb(y)Sb(1-x-y)/Ag(111) surface alloys where we observed a continuous
evolution of the band structure with x and y.

Materials Science