title: Compositional uniformity, domain patterning and the mechanism underlying nano-chessboard arrays.
abstract: We  propose that systems exhibiting compositional patterning at the nanoscale, so far assumed to be due to some kind of ordered phase segregation, can be understood instead in terms of coherent, single phase ordering of minority motifs, caused by some constrained drive for uniformity. The essential features of this type of arrangement can be reproduced using a superspace construction typical of uniformity-driven orderings, which only requires the knowledge of the modulation vectors observed in the diffraction patterns. The idea is discussed in terms of a simple two-dimensional lattice-gas model that simulates a binary system in which the dilution of the minority component is favoured. This simple model already exhibits a hierarchy of arrangements similar to the experimentally observed nano-chessboard and nano-diamond patterns, which are described as occupational modulated structures with two independent modulation wavevectors and simple step-like occupation modulation functions.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Apartado 644, E-48080 Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Perez-Mato
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Elcoro
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Ray L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Withers
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bourgeois