Surface-relaxation-induced giant corrugation on graphite (0001)

Soft graphite surface was atomically resolved by ultrasmall amplitude dynamic force microscopy operating at 5 MHz. The giant corrugation amplitude of up to 85 pm appeared due to local vertical deformations of the graphite surface. In simultaneous scanning tunneling microscopy and dynamic force microscopy, all of the symmetric C atoms were resolved with the conservative interaction in the repulsive regime. Additionally, the dissipative interaction showed a large difference of asymmetric alpha and beta site C atoms, arising from the different mechanical properties. The low stiffness of the graphite surface played a crucial role in the observations at room temperature.