523 research outputs found
Evaporation and Step Edge Diffusion in MBE
Using kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations of a Solid-on-Solid model we
investigate the influence of step edge diffusion (SED) and evaporation on
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). Based on these investigations we propose two
strategies to optimize MBE-growth. The strategies are applicable in different
growth regimes: during layer-by-layer growth one can reduce the desorption rate
using a pulsed flux. In three-dimensional (3D) growth the SED can help to grow
large, smooth structures. For this purpose the flux has to be reduced with time
according to a power law.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, latex2e (packages: elsevier,psfig,latexsym
Crossover in the scaling of island size and capture zone distributions
Simulations of irreversible growth of extended (fractal and square) islands
with critical island sizes i=1 and 2 are performed in broad ranges of coverage
\theta and diffusion-to-deposition ratios R in order to investigate scaling of
island size and capture zone area distributions (ISD, CZD). Large \theta and
small R lead to a crossover from the CZD predicted by the theory of Pimpinelli
and Einstein (PE), with Gaussian right tail, to CZD with simple exponential
decays. The corresponding ISD also cross over from Gaussian or faster decays to
simple exponential ones. For fractal islands, these features are explained by
changes in the island growth kinetics, from a competition for capture of
diffusing adatoms (PE scaling) to aggregation of adatoms with effectively
irrelevant diffusion, which is characteristic of random sequential adsorption
(RSA) without surface diffusion. This interpretation is confirmed by studying
the crossover with similar CZ areas (of order 100 sites) in a model with
freezing of diffusing adatoms that corresponds to i=0. For square islands,
deviations from PE predictions appear for coverages near \theta=0.2 and are
mainly related to island coalescence. Our results show that the range of
applicability of the PE theory is narrow, thus observing the predicted Gaussian
tail of CZD may be difficult in real systems.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Genotoxic activity of 2-amino-N-hydroxylaminopurine (AHA) in Aspergillus nidulans
In Aspergillus nidulans, as well as in other eukaryotic cells, not all base analogs are mutagenic. For example, 2-aminopurine (2-AP) is non-mutagenic or weakly mutagenic for eukaryotes while it is mutagenic for bacteria. Because of their potential use in genetical research, an effort has been made to find base analogs mutagenic for eukaryotic cells. Work in this field has been successful: in fact, 6- hydroxylamino-purine (HAP) and 2-amino-N-hydroxylaminopurine (AHA) have been found mutagenic for yeast as well as for other eukaryotic cells. (Pavlov et al. 1991, Mut. Res. 253:33-46). In particular, Brockman et al. (Mut. Res. 177:61-75, 1987) tested the mutagenic activity of HAP and AHA in Neurospora crassa and found that AHA is about equally mutagenic as HAP at low doses but more mutagenic at high doses. In this paper we report the genotoxic activity of AHA in A. nidulans. In this mold, we have tested AHA-induced lethality and mutagenic and recombinogenic effect
UV light induced accumulation of variability in a diploid strain of Aspergillus nidulans
The accumulated variability in asexual species was evaluated in Aspergillus nidulans diploid cells after repeated cycles of UV irradiation. The results show that diploid cells can accumulate a very high genetic variability in the heterozygous condition as previously shown with the base analog 6-N-hydroxylaminopurine (HAP)
Theoretical Characterization of the Interface in a Nonequilibrium Lattice System
The influence of nonequilibrium bulk conditions on the properties of the
interfaces exhibited by a kinetic Ising--like model system with nonequilibrium
steady states is studied. The system is maintained out of equilibrium by
perturbing the familiar spin--flip dynamics at temperature T with
completely--random flips; one may interpret these as ideally simulating some
(dynamic) impurities. We find evidence that, in the present case, the
nonequilibrium mechanism adds to the basic thermal one resulting on a
renormalization of microscopic parameters such as the probability of
interfacial broken bonds. On this assumption, we develop theory for the
nonequilibrium "surface tension", which happens to show a non--monotonous
behavior with a maximum at some finite T. It ensues, in full agreement with
Monte Carlo simulations, that interface fluctuations differ qualitatively from
the equilibrium case, e.g., the interface remains rough at zero--T. We discuss
on some consequences of these facts for nucleation theory, and make some
explicit predictions concerning the nonequilibrium droplet structure.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Re
Scaling properties of step bunches induced by sublimation and related mechanisms: A unified perspective
This work provides a ground for a quantitative interpretation of experiments
on step bunching during sublimation of crystals with a pronounced
Ehrlich-Schwoebel (ES) barrier in the regime of weak desorption. A strong step
bunching instability takes place when the kinetic length is larger than the
average distance between the steps on the vicinal surface. In the opposite
limit the instability is weak and step bunching can occur only when the
magnitude of step-step repulsion is small. The central result are power law
relations of the between the width, the height, and the minimum interstep
distance of a bunch. These relations are obtained from a continuum evolution
equation for the surface profile, which is derived from the discrete step
dynamical equations for. The analysis of the continuum equation reveals the
existence of two types of stationary bunch profiles with different scaling
properties. Through a mathematical equivalence on the level of the discrete
step equations as well as on the continuum level, our results carry over to the
problems of step bunching induced by growth with a strong inverse ES effect,
and by electromigration in the attachment/detachment limited regime. Thus our
work provides support for the existence of universality classes of step
bunching instabilities [A. Pimpinelli et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 206103
(2002)], but some aspects of the universality scenario need to be revised.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
Correlations in nano-scale step fluctuations: comparison of simulation and experiments
We analyze correlations in step-edge fluctuations using the
Bortz-Kalos-Lebowitz kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm, with a 2-parameter
expression for energy barriers, and compare with our VT-STM line-scan
experiments on spiral steps on Pb(111). The scaling of the correlation times
gives a dynamic exponent confirming the expected step-edge-diffusion
rate-limiting kinetics both in the MC and in the experiments. We both calculate
and measure the temperature dependence of (mass) transport properties via the
characteristic hopping times and deduce therefrom the notoriously-elusive
effective energy barrier for the edge fluctuations. With a careful analysis we
point out the necessity of a more complex model to mimic the kinetics of a
Pb(111) surface for certain parameter ranges.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Physical Review
- …