Surface structure of MBE-Grown $\alpha$-$Fe_2O_3$(0001) by Intermediate-Energy X-ray Photoelectron Diffraction

The surface structure of epitaxial $\alpha$-Fe2O3(0001) grown on $\alpha$-Al2O3(0001) has been investigated using intermediate-energy x-ray photoelectron diffraction. Comparison of experiment with quantum mechanical scattering theory reveals that the surface is Fe-terminated, and that the first four layer spacings are -41%, +18%, -8%, and +47% of the associated bulk values, respectively. these results agree reasonably well with the predictions of molecular mechanics and spin-density functional theory previously reported in the literature for the Fe-terminated surface. however, we find no evidence for and O-terminated surface predicted to be stable by spin-density functional theory.