Dirac cone in a non-honeycomb surface alloy

Abstract

We demonstrate unexpected occurrence of linear bands resembling Dirac cone at the zone-center of Au$_2$Sn surface alloy with $\left( \begin{smallmatrix} 2&1\\ 1&3 \end{smallmatrix} \right)$ surface structure formed by deposition of about 0.9 ML Sn on Au(111) at elevated temperature. The surface exhibits an oblique symmetry with unequal lattice constants making it the first two dimensional surface alloy to exhibit Dirac cone with a non-honeycomb lattice.