Convective instability on a crystal surface
Materials Science
2007-05-23 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Abstract
The distinction between absolute and convective instabilities is well known in the context of hydrodynamics and plasma physics. In this Letter, we examine an epitaxial crystal growth model from this point of view and show that a strain-induced step bunching instability can be convective. Using analytic stability theory and numerical simulations, we study the response of the crystal surface to an inhomogeneous deposition flux that launches impulsive and time-periodic perturbations to a uniform array of steps. The results suggest a new approach to morphological patterning.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0010080,
title = {Convective instability on a crystal surface},
author = {Navot Israeli and Daniel Kandel and Michael F. Schatz and Andrew Zangwill},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0010080},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
4 pages + 5 postscript figure files