English

Observations of an Impurity-driven Hysteresis Behavior in Ice Crystal Growth at Low Pressure

Materials Science 2008-09-30 v1

Abstract

We describe observations of a novel hysteresis behavior in the growth of ice crystals under near-vacuum conditions. Above a threshold supersaturation, we find that the ice growth rate often exhibits a sudden increase that we attribute to an impurity-driven growth instability. We examine possible mechanisms for this instability, which can be used to produce clean, faceted ice surfaces.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0809.4863,
  title  = {Observations of an Impurity-driven Hysteresis Behavior in Ice Crystal Growth at Low Pressure},
  author = {Kenneth G. Libbrecht},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0809.4863},
  year   = {2008}
}