We observe using low-energy electron microscopy the self-assembly of monolayer-thick stripes of Au on W(110) near the transition temperature between stripes and the non-patterned (homogeneous) phase. We demonstrate that the amplitude of this Au stripe phase decreases with increasing temperature and vanishes at the order-disorder transition (ODT). The wavelength varies much more slowly with temperature and coverage than theories of stress-domain patterns with sharp phase boundaries would predict, and maintains a finite value of about 100 nm at the ODT. We argue that such nanometer-scale stripes should often appear near the ODT.
@article{arxiv.0804.1273,
title = {Nanoscale periodicity in stripe-forming systems at high temperature: Au/W(110)},
author = {J. de la Figuera and F. Leonard and R. Stumpf and N. C. Bartelt and K. F. McCarty},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.1273},
year = {2008}
}