title: Relaxation of surface steps after thermal quenches: a numerical study within the terrace-step-kink model.
abstract: We study the out-of-equilibrium relaxation of surface steps after thermal quenches using numerical simulations of the terrace-step-kink model for a vicinal surface. We analyze both single and interacting steps in a situation where the temperature is suddenly changed at a given quench time. We focus on a physically relevant range of temperatures and show that the relaxation of the roughness is compatible with a power-law behavior with an effective relaxation exponent close to γ = 1/2 in all cases. This value is consistent with a one-dimensional Edwards-Wilkinson equation. In particular, this means that, although the case of interacting steps is effectively a two-dimensional system, its relaxation is dominated by short length-scale fluctuations, where steps are not interacting.
authors.affiliation: CONICET, Centro Atómico Bariloche, 8400 San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bustingorry
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Centres
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization; D004548:Elasticity; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D010825:Physics / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors