Ordering of an incommensurate molecular layer with adsorbate-induced reconstruction:: C60/Ag(100) -: art. no. 121403

The nature of distinct bright-dim C-60 contrast and its intricate ordering on Ag(100) is clarified with scanning tunneling microscopy. The C-60 film is (111) close-packed with locally distorted rhombic units of specific contrast order, forming an incommensurate aperiodic phase. We relate the C-60 contrast to an interfacial restructuring beneath each dim C-60, with its ordering determined by competing interactions in the reconstructed interface and of the rhombus configuration.