Epitaxially stabilized iron thin films via effective strain relief from   steps
  We show a new way to stabilize epitaxial structures against transforming bulk stable phases for Fe thin films on a vicinal Cu(001) surface. Atomically-resolved observations by scanning tunneling microscopy reveal that high-density Cu steps serve as strain relievers for keeping epitaxially-stabilized Fe fcc(001) lattice even at a transient thickness towards the bulk stable bcc(110) lattice. Spectroscopic measurements further clarify the intrinsic electronic properties of the fcc Fe thin film in real space, implying electronic differences between 6 and 7 monolayer thick films induced by the modification of the lattice constant in the topmost layers. 
T. Miyamachi, S. Nakashima, S. Kim, N. Kawamura, Y. Tatetsu, Y. Gohda,   S. Tsuneyuki, and F. Komori
cond-mat.mes-hall