The Equilibrium Shape of Quantum Dots

The formation of dislocation-free three-dimensional islands during the heteroepitaxial growth of lattice-mismatched materials has been observed experimentally for several material systems. The equilibrium shape of the islands is governed by the competition between the surface energy and the elastic relaxation energy of the islands as compared to the uniform strained film. As an exemplification we consider the experimentally intensively investigated growth of InAs quantum dots on a GaAs(001) substrate, deriving the equilibrium shape as a function of island volume. For this purpose InAs surface energies have been calculated within density-functional theory, and a continuum approach has been applied to compute the elastic relaxation energies.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Nuovo Cimento (November 27, 1996)

Surface-State Localization at Adatoms

Low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy of magnetic and non-magnetic metal atoms on Ag(111) and on Cu(111) surfaces reveals the existence of a common electronic resonance at an energy below the binding energies of the surface states. Using an extended Newns-Anderson model, we assign this resonance to an adsorbate-induced bound state, split off from the bottom of the surface-state band, and broadened by the interaction with bulk states. A lineshape analysis of the bound state indicates that native adatoms decrease the surface-state lifetime, while a cobalt adatom causes no significant change.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

What Elephant? The Challenge of Political: Pluralism in the Academy

Does displaying one’s political affiliation in the workplace present a moral dilemma for educators striving to be true pluralists? Two recent graduates of the Higher Education & Student Affairs Administration program at The University of Vermont pose challenging questions to practitioners regarding the intersection of pluralism and political affiliation, highlighting the oft-assumed understanding that to be pluralistic one must be liberal minded. Higher education faculty and administrators, who are overwhelmingly self-identified liberals, risk marginalizing conservative students and colleagues and thwarting opportunities for dialogue around the complexities of the political climate in the academy and beyond. This article examines the paradox of political pluralism and considers the role of advocacy in creating a safe environment for liberals and conservatives alike

Highly site-specific H2 adsorption on vicinal Si(001) surfaces

Experimental and theoretical results for the dissociative adsorption of H_2 on vicinal Si(001) surfaces are presented. Using optical second-harmonic generation, sticking probabilities at the step sites are found to exceed those on the terraces by up to six orders of magnitude. Density functional theory calculations indicate the presence of direct adsorption pathways for monohydride formation but with a dramatically lowered barrier for step adsorption due to an efficient rehybridization of dangling orbitals.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (1998). Other related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm

Evolution of unoccupied resonance during the synthesis of a silver dimer on Ag(111)

Silver dimers were fabricated on Ag(111) by single-atom manipulation using the tip of a cryogenic scanning tunnelling microscope. An unoccupied electronic resonance was observed to shift toward the Fermi level with decreasing atom-atom distance as monitored by spatially resolved scanning tunnelling spectroscopy. Density functional calculations were used to analyse the experimental observations and revealed that the coupling between the adsorbed atoms is predominantly direct rather than indirect via the Ag(111) substrate.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

The influence of surface stress on the equilibrium shape of strained quantum dots

The equilibrium shapes of InAs quantum dots (i.e., dislocation-free, strained islands with sizes >= 10,000 atoms) grown on a GaAs (001) substrate are studied using a hybrid approach which combines density functional theory (DFT) calculations of microscopic parameters, surface energies, and surface stresses with elasticity theory for the long-range strain fields and strain relaxations. In particular we report DFT calculations of the surface stresses and analyze the influence of the strain on the surface energies of the various facets of the quantum dot. The surface stresses have been neglected in previous studies. Furthermore, the influence of edge energies on the island shapes is briefly discussed. From the knowledge of the equilibrium shape of these islands, we address the question whether experimentally observed quantum dots correspond to thermal equilibrium structures or if they are a result of the growth kinetics.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B (February 2, 1998). Other related publications can be found at http://www.rz-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm