632 research outputs found
Emergence of quasiparticle Bloch states in artificial crystals crafted atom-by-atom
The interaction of electrons with a periodic potential of atoms in
crystalline solids gives rise to band structure. The band structure of existing
materials can be measured by photoemission spectroscopy and accurately
understood in terms of the tight-binding model, however not many experimental
approaches exist that allow to tailor artificial crystal lattices using a
bottom-up approach. The ability to engineer and study atomically crafted
designer materials by scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS)
helps to understand the emergence of material properties. Here, we use atom
manipulation of individual vacancies in a chlorine monolayer on Cu(100) to
construct one- and two-dimensional structures of various densities and sizes.
Local STS measurements reveal the emergence of quasiparticle bands, evidenced
by standing Bloch waves, with tuneable dispersion. The experimental data are
understood in terms of a tight-binding model combined with an additional
broadening term that allows an estimation of the coupling to the underlying
substrate.Comment: 7 figures, 12 pages, main text and supplementary materia
Spatio-temporal distribution of nucleation events during crystal growth
We consider irreversible second-layer nucleation that occurs when two adatoms
on a terrace meet. We solve the problem analytically in one dimension for zero
and infinite step-edge barriers, and numerically for any value of the barriers
in one and two dimensions. For large barriers, the spatial distribution of
nucleation events strongly differs from , where is the
stationary adatom density in the presence of a constant flux. The probability
that nucleation occurs at time after the deposition of the second
adatom, decays for short time as a power law [] in and
logarithmically [] in ; for long time it decays
exponentially. Theories of the nucleation rate based on the assumption
that it is proportional to are shown to overestimate by a
factor proportional to the number of times an adatom diffusing on the terrace
visits an already visited lattice site.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication on PR
Linear theory of unstable growth on rough surfaces
Unstable homoepitaxy on rough substrates is treated within a linear continuum
theory. The time dependence of the surface width is governed by three
length scales: The characteristic scale of the substrate roughness, the
terrace size and the Ehrlich-Schwoebel length . If (weak step edge barriers) and ,
then displays a minimum at a coverage , where the initial surface width is reduced by a factor
. The r\^{o}le of deposition and diffusion noise is analyzed. The
results are applied to recent experiments on the growth of InAs buffer layers
[M.F. Gyure {\em et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 81}, 4931 (1998)]. The overall
features of the observed roughness evolution are captured by the linear theory,
but the detailed time dependence shows distinct deviations which suggest a
significant influence of nonlinearities
Diamond Solitaire
We investigate the game of peg solitaire on different board shapes, and find
those of diamond or rhombus shape have interesting properties. When one peg
captures many pegs consecutively, this is called a sweep. Rhombus boards of
side 6 have the property that no matter which peg is missing at the start, the
game can be solved to one peg using a maximal sweep of length 16. We show how
to construct a solution on a rhombus board of side 6i, where the final move is
a maximal sweep of length r, where r=(9i-1)(3i-1) is a "rhombic matchstick
number".Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure
Simulations of energetic beam deposition: from picoseconds to seconds
We present a new method for simulating crystal growth by energetic beam
deposition. The method combines a Kinetic Monte-Carlo simulation for the
thermal surface diffusion with a small scale molecular dynamics simulation of
every single deposition event. We have implemented the method using the
effective medium theory as a model potential for the atomic interactions, and
present simulations for Ag/Ag(111) and Pt/Pt(111) for incoming energies up to
35 eV. The method is capable of following the growth of several monolayers at
realistic growth rates of 1 monolayer per second, correctly accounting for both
energy-induced atomic mobility and thermal surface diffusion. We find that the
energy influences island and step densities and can induce layer-by-layer
growth. We find an optimal energy for layer-by-layer growth (25 eV for Ag),
which correlates with where the net impact-induced downward interlayer
transport is at a maximum. A high step density is needed for energy induced
layer-by-layer growth, hence the effect dies away at increased temperatures,
where thermal surface diffusion reduces the step density. As part of the
development of the method, we present molecular dynamics simulations of single
atom-surface collisions on flat parts of the surface and near straight steps,
we identify microscopic mechanisms by which the energy influences the growth,
and we discuss the nature of the energy-induced atomic mobility
Defect-induced perturbations of atomic monolayers on solid surfaces
We study long-range morphological changes in atomic monolayers on solid
substrates induced by different types of defects; e.g., by monoatomic steps in
the surface, or by the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM), placed at some
distance above the substrate. Representing the monolayer in terms of a suitably
extended Frenkel-Kontorova-type model, we calculate the defect-induced density
profiles for several possible geometries. In case of an AFM tip, we also
determine the extra force exerted on the tip due to the tip-induced
de-homogenization of the monolayer.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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