Two-Dimensional Roughening of Adsorbate Islands in Thermodynamic Equilibrium

J. Wintterlin, J. Trost, R. Schuster, A. Eichler, and J.-S. McEwen
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 166102 – Published 26 April 2006

Abstract

Equilibrium fluctuations of islands of adsorbed O atoms on Ru(0001) were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), density functional theory calculations (DFT) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Very ramified (2×2)O islands were observed by high-speed STM that point to complex interactions between the O atoms. The DFT calculations show that, in addition to pairwise attractive interactions between third-nearest neighbors, a repulsive three-body interaction exists between these. MC simulations that include three-body interactions reproduce the observed ordering behavior.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 18 February 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.166102

©2006 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

J. Wintterlin1, J. Trost1, R. Schuster1, A. Eichler2, and J.-S. McEwen3

  • 1Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, 14195 Berlin, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, 80331 München, Germany
  • 2Institut für Materialphysik, Universität Wien, 1090 Wien, Austria
  • 3Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Campus Plaine, CP 231, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 16 — 28 April 2006

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×