Related papers: Vicinal silicon surfaces: from step density wave t…
Experiments performed by friction force microscopy at atomic-scale surface steps on graphite, MoS$_2$, and NaCl in ambient conditions are presented. Both step-down and step-up scans exhibit higher frictional forces at the edge, but…
A simple solid-on-solid model, proposed earlier to describe overlayer-induced faceting of bcc(111) surface, is applied to faceting of spherical surfaces covered by adsorbate monolayer. Monte Carlo simulation results show that morphology of…
The role of a simple surface defect, such as a step, for relaxing the stress applied to a semiconductor, has been investigated by means of large scale first principles calculations. Our results indicate that the step is the privileged site…
We have adapted classical molecular dynamics to study the structural and dynamical properties of amorphous silica surfaces. Concerning the structure, the density profile exhibits oscillations perpendicularly to the surface as observed in…
A sublimating vicinal crystal surface can undergo a step bunching instability when the attachment-detachment kinetics is asymmetric, in the sense of a normal Ehrlich-Schwoebel effect. Here we investigate this instability in a model that…
A key challenge in performing experiments with microparticles is controlling their adhesion to substrates. For example, levitation of a microparticle initially resting on a surface requires overcoming the surface adhesion forces to deliver…
The dynamics of a folded protein is studied in water and glycerol at a series of temperatures below and above their respective dynamical transition. The system is modeled in two distinct states whereby the protein is decoupled from the bulk…
We study the diffusion-driven kinetics of phase separation of a symmetric binary mixture (AB), confined in a thin-film geometry between two parallel walls. We consider cases where (a) both walls preferentially attract the same component…
We study the step meandering instability on a surface characterized by the alternation of terraces with different properties, as in the case of Si(001). The interplay between diffusion anisotropy and step stiffness induces a finite…
Networks of steps, seen in STM observations of vicinal surfaces on Au and Pt (110), are analyzed. A simple model is introduced for the calculation of the free energy of the networks as function of the slope parameters, valid at low step…
Using coherent x-ray scattering, we evidenced atomic step roughness at the [111] vicinal surface of a silicon monocrystal of 0.05 degree miscut. Close to the (1/2 1/2 1/2) anti-Bragg position of the reciprocal space which is particularly…
Surfaces of multilayer semiconductors typically have regions of atomically flat terraces separated by atom-high steps. Here we investigate the properties of the low-energy states appearing at the surface atomic steps in \snte. We identify…
We present a novel method to measure transient photovoltage at nanointerfaces using ultrafast electron diffraction. In particular, we report our results on the photoinduced electronic excitations and their ensuing relaxations in a…
We report new results on the non-conserved dynamics of parallel steps on vicinal surfaces in the case of sublimation with electromigration and step-step interactions. The derived equations are valid in the quasistatic approximation and in…
The interfacial structure and dynamics of water in a microscopically confined geometry is imaged in three dimensions and on millisecond time scales. We developed a 3D wide-field second harmonic microscope that employs structured…
The development of nanotechnology and atom optics relies on understanding how atoms behave and interact with their environment. Isolated atoms can exhibit wave-like (coherent) behaviour with a corresponding de Broglie wavelength and phase…
Density-wave fronts in a vibrofluidized wet granular layer undergoing a gas-liquid-like transition are investigated experimentally. The threshold of the instability is governed by the amplitude of the vertical vibrations. Fronts, which are…
Recent experiments show that an atomic step on the surface of atomically thin metallic films can strongly affect electronic transport. Here we reveal multiple and versatile effects that such a surface step can have on superconductivity in…
The spin reorientation transition of an ultrathin film from perpendicular to in-plane magnetization is driven by a competition between dipole and anisotropy energies. \textit{In situ} measurements of the magnetic susceptibility of Fe/2 ML…
It was recently observed that sand flowing down a vertical tube sometimes forms a traveling density pattern in which a number of regions with high density are separated from each other by regions of low density. In this work, we consider…