Why Are Alkali Halide Solid Surfaces Not Wetted By Their Own Melt?

Alkali halide (100) crystal surfaces are anomalous, being very poorly wetted by their own melt at the triple point. We present extensive simulations for NaCl, followed by calculations of the solid-vapor, solid-liquid, and liquid-vapor free energies showing that solid NaCl(100) is a nonmelting surface, and that its full behavior can quantitatively be accounted for within a simple Born-Meyer-Huggins-Fumi-Tosi model potential. The incomplete wetting is traced to the conspiracy of three factors: surface anharmonicities stabilizing the solid surface; a large density jump causing bad liquid-solid adhesion; incipient NaCl molecular correlations destabilizing the liquid surface. The latter is pursued in detail, and it is shown that surface short-range charge order acts to raise the surface tension because incipient NaCl molecular formation anomalously reduces the surface entropy of liquid NaCl much below that of solid NaCl(100).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

GPS-derived interseismic coupling on the subduction and seismic hazards in the Atacama region, Chile

International audienceThe Atacama region (between 29°S and 25°S) is located in the North-Central area of Chile, a tectonically complex transition area between North and Central Chile. Deformation in Atacama is due mainly to elastic loading on the subduction interface but also to diffuse shortening in the Sierras Pampeanas, Argentina. The seismicity of the subduction is complex in this region: seismic swarms often occur, moderate (Mw ∼ 6) to large (Mw ∼ 7) earthquakes occur repeatedly and finally, megathrust earthquakes of magnitudes significantly larger than 8 occur once in a while, the last one being in 1922—almost a century ago. We use new GPS data we collected in the Atacama region between 2008 and 2012 to complete and densify existing data we acquired since 2004 in North-Central Chile. These new data allow to quantify the motion of the Andean sliver and assess the kinematic coupling on the subduction interface at these latitudes. We find that only 7 per cent of the whole convergence motion is taken up by an eastward rotation of the rigid sliver. A large part of the remaining 93 per cent (approximately 6 cm/yr) gives way to accumulation of elastic deformation in the upper plate, due to locking on the plate interface. This accumulation shows important along-strike and along-dip variations, interpreted in terms of variable coupling which we correlate with seismicity. We identify two areas of low coupling near the 'La Serena' (30°S) and 'Baranquilla' (27.5°S) bays. Both are correlated with the subduction of singular bathymetric features and seem to stop the propagation of large seismic ruptures. These zones are also seismic swarm prone areas, which seem to occur rather on their edges. These low coupling areas separate two seismic segments where coupling is high: the Atacama segment ( ∼100 km long between 29◦S and 28◦S) and the Cha ̃naral segment (∼200 km long between 27◦S and 25◦S). Should they rupture alone, these segments are sufficiently coupled and apparently since long enough, to produce Mw∼8 events. However, a collective failure of both segments could generate a megathrust earthquake of magnitude close to 8.5, similar to the 1819 and 1922 complex events, which produced important tsunamis. Such giant events may occur in the area once a century

Revisiting the North Chile seismic gap segmentation using GPS-derived interseismic coupling

International audienceNo major earthquake occurred in North Chile since the 1877 M w 8.6 subduction earthquake that produced a huge tsunami. However, geodetic measurements conducted over the last decade in this area show that the upper plate is actually deforming, which reveals some degree of locking on the subduction interface. This accumulation of elastic deformation is likely to be released in a future earthquake. Because of the long elapsed time since 1877 and the rapid accumulation of deformation (thought to be 6–7 cm/yr), many consider this area is a mature seismic gap where a major earthquake is due and seismic hazard is high. We present a new Global Positioning System (GPS) velocity field, acquired between 2008 and 2012, that describes in some detail the interseismic deformation between 18°S and 24°S. We invert for coupling distribution on the Nazca-South America subduction interface using elastic modelling. Our measurements require that, at these latitudes, 10 to 12 mm yr−1 (i.e. 15 per cent of the whole convergence rate) are accommodated by the clockwise rotation of an Andean block bounded to the East by the subandean fold-and-thrust belt. This reduces the accumulation rate on the subduction interface to 56 mm yr−1 in this area. Coupling variations on the subduction interface both along-strike and along-dip are described. We find that the North Chile seismic gap is segmented in at least two highly locked segments bounded by narrow areas of weak coupling. This coupling segmentation is consistent with our knowledge of the historical ruptures and of the instrumental seismicity of the region. Intersegment zones (Iquique, Mejillones) correlate with high background seismic rate and local tectonic complexities on the upper or downgoing plates. The rupture of either the Paranal or the Loa segment alone could easily produce a Mw 8.0–8.3 rupture, and we propose that the Loa segment (from 22.5◦S to 20.8◦S) may be the one that ruptured in 1877

Vicinal silicon surfaces: from step density wave to faceting

This paper investigates faceting mechanisms induced by electromigration in the regime where atomic steps are transparent. For this purpose we study several vicinal orientations by means of in-situ (optical diffraction, electronic microscopy) as well as ex-situ (AFM, microprofilometry) visualization techniques. The data show that faceting proceeds in two stages. The first stage is short and leads to the appearance of a step density wave, with a wavelength roughly independent of the surface orientation. The second stage is much slower, and leads to the formation of a hill-and-valley structure, the period of which depends on the initial surface orientation. A simple continuum model enables us to point out why the wavelength of the step density wave does not depend on the microscale details of the surface. The final wavelength is controlled by the competition between elastic step-step interaction and facet edge energy cost. Finally, the surface stress angular dependence is shown to emerge as a coarsed-grained picture from the step model.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figure

Equilibrium crystal shapes in the Potts model

The three-dimensional $q$-state Potts model, forced into coexistence by fixing the density of one state, is studied for $q=2$, 3, 4, and 6. As a function of temperature and number of states, we studied the resulting equilibrium droplet shapes. A theoretical discussion is given of the interface properties at large values of $q$. We found a roughening transition for each of the numbers of states we studied, at temperatures that decrease with increasing $q$, but increase when measured as a fraction of the melting temperature. We also found equilibrium shapes closely approaching a sphere near the melting point, even though the three-dimensional Potts model with three or more states does not have a phase transition with a diverging length scale at the melting point.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR

Changing shapes in the nanoworld

What are the mechanisms leading to the shape relaxation of three dimensional crystallites ? Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of fcc clusters show that the usual theories of equilibration, via atomic surface diffusion driven by curvature, are verified only at high temperatures. Below the roughening temperature, the relaxation is much slower, kinetics being governed by the nucleation of a critical germ on a facet. We show that the energy barrier for this step linearly increases with the size of the crystallite, leading to an exponential dependence of the relaxation time.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Phys Rev Let

Electromigration of Single-Layer Clusters

Single-layer atom or vacancy clusters in the presence of electromigration are studied theoretically assuming an isotropic medium. A variety of distinctive behaviors distinguish the response in the three standard limiting cases of periphery diffusion (PD), terrace diffusion (TD), and evaporation-condensation (EC). A general model provides power laws describing the size dependence of the drift velocity in these limits, consistent with established results in the case of PD. The validity of the widely used quasistatic limit is calculated. Atom and vacancy clusters drift in opposite directions in the PD limit but in the same direction otherwise. In absence of PD, linear stability analysis reveals a new type of morphological instability, not leading to island break-down. For strong electromigration, Monte Carlo simulations show that clusters then destabilize into slits, in contrast to splitting in the PD limit. Electromigration affects the diffusion coefficient of the cluster and morphological fluctuations, the latter diverging at the instability threshold. An instrinsic attachment-detachment bias displays the same scaling signature as PD in the drift velocity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

A contiuum model for low temperature relaxation of crystal steps

High and low temperature relaxation of crystal steps are described in a unified picture, using a continuum model based on a modified expression of the step free energy. Results are in agreement with experiments and Monte Carlo simulations of step fluctuations and monolayer cluster diffusion and relaxation. In an extended model where mass exchange with neighboring terraces is allowed, step transparency and a low temperature regime for unstable step meandering are found.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Statistical Mechanical Calculation of Anisotropic Step Stiffness of a Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Lattice Gas Model with Next-Nearest-Neighbor Interactions: Application to Si(111) Surface

We study a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice gas model with both nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions in a staggered field, which describes the surface of stoichiometrically binary crystal. We calculate anisotropic step tension, step stiffness, and equilibrium island shape, by an extended random walk method. We apply the results to Si(111) 7$\times$7 reconstructed surface and high-temperature Si(111) 1$\times$1 surface. We also calculate inter-step interaction coefficient.Comment: revised on May 29 1999: RevTeX v3.1, 10 pages with 9 figures (one figure added

The phase diagram of the lattice Calogero-Sutherland model

We introduce a {\it lattice} version of the Calogero Sutherland model adapted to describe $1/d^2$ pairwise interacting steps with discrete positions on a vicinal surface. The configurational free energy is obtained within a transfer matrix method. The full phase diagram for attractive and for repulsive interaction is deduced. For attraction, critical temperatures of faceting transitions are found to depend on step density.Comment: latex PRBCalogSuth.tex, 6 files, 4 pages [SPEC-S00/900