Detection of exchange interaction in STM measurements through Fanolike interference effects

Abstract

We address Fano-like interference effects in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements of nanoscale systems, e.g. two-level systems. Common for these systems is that second order tunneling contributions give rise to interference effects that cause suppressed transmission through the system for certain energies. The suppressed transmission is measurable either in the differential conductance or in the bias voltage derivative thereof.

9 pages, 3 figures, submitted: in addition to the results published in Phys. Rev. B, 75, 153309 (2007), this paper contains a more thorough discussion on the used transport formalism, studies of asymmetric couplings to the substrate, and discussion of non-resonant levels. The non-resonant case is related to spin-dependent tunneling