Bertel, Swamy, and Hanesch Reply:

Sexithiophene Adlayer Growth on Vicinal Gold Surfaces

“…Consequently, the surface attachment of the adsorbate is strengthened as the surface state depopulation induces an effective attractive interaction between the adsorbates. 41,43,44 The observed SS depopulation in HeI spectra suggests that the initial accumulation of R-6T molecules at the bottom of the Au steps may be partly due to the perturbations of LDOS of the surface electrons and the resulting attractive interaction between the bottom edge and the molecules. Also, it has been argued that the step of Au(111) may reduce the LDOS of the SS band, making the SS density oscillations less pronounced near the bottom of the steps.…”

“…The SS electrons are expected to have a pronounced influence on the repulsive part of the physisorption potential through the short-ranged Pauli repulsion, which depends on the charge density in front of the surface. [40][41][42][43] The direct consequence of the increased repulsive potential is weakened physisorption. Conversely, surface defects, including adsorbates themselves, can act as repulsive scattering centers for the 2-D surface-state electron gas, leading to the local depopulation of the surface state in the vicinity of such defects.…”