| In 2006 we revealed that self-assembled atom wires on vicinal silicon surfaces exhibit not only co-existing charge density waves (CDWs) within the unit cell, but also competing CDW periodicities within the same atom wires. In addition we showed the existence of phase slips in the CDW periodicity. Since the concerning CDW has a 1/3 filled band, these phase slips have a fractional (spin, charge) of (1/2, ± e/3) or (0, ± 2e/3). The presence and mobility of atomic scale defects in the atom wires open up the possibility of manipulating these phase slips and studying them in predefined environments.
This work was published as P.C. Snijders et al. Physical Review Letters 96 076801, and was publicized by the publisher in a Physics News Update, http://www.aip.org/pnu/2006/split/767-1.html (see also http://aip.org/png/2006/252.htm). It was also chosen as one of the Physics News in 2006 highlights of APS News (http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/physicsnews/upload/Physics_News06.pdf).
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