Vertical asymmetry and the ripple-rotation transition in epitaxial growth and erosion on (110) crystal surfaces.
Vertical (up-down) asymmetry is ubiquitous feature of the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of realistic growing interfaces. Yet, the actual role of vertical asymmetry (VA) in epitaxial growth on crystal surfaces is still elusive. Is vertical asymmetry a primary or secondary factor in epitaxial growth and erosion? Can vertical asymmetry alone produce major qualitative effects on long length scale interface morphologies? To address these questions in depth, we theoretically discuss the effects of vertical growth asymmetry on far-from-equilibrium interfacial morphologies occurring in the epitaxial growth and erosion of (110) crystal surfaces. We theoretically elucidate the so-called ripple rotation transition on the Ag(110) crystal surface [F. B. de Mongeot; Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2445 (2000), G. Constantini, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 13, 5875 (2001)], as the transition between the rectangular rippled states (checker-board structures of alternating rectangular pyramids and pits). We show that the experimental surface diffraction data seen in this transition can be understood only by invoking vertical growth asymmetry. In the proximity of the transition point, we find that vertical asymmetry itself produces an interface morphology yielding a four-lobe near in-phase diffraction pattern having four peaks along the principal axes of the (110) surface, in accord with the experiments on Ag(110). Moreover, on the two sides of the ripple rotation transition, we find two exotic interface states induced by vertical asymmetry, which correspond well /to the interface morphologies seen on Ag(110). We document our results by numerical simulations and by analytic arguments. Our theoretical findings, in combination with experiments, provide the first rigorous evidence that VA plays a significant role in epitaxial growth and erosion on crystal surfaces.
Levandovsky
Artem
A
Physics Department, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-6315, USA.
Golubović
Leonardo
L