Observation and Modeling of Interrupted Pattern Coarsening: Surface Nanostructuring by Ion Erosion Articles uri icon

publication date

  • January 2010

issue

  • 2

volume

  • 104

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0031-9007

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1079-7114

abstract

  • We report the experimental observation of interrupted coarsening for surface self-organized nanostructuring by ion erosion. Analysis of the target surface by atomic force microscopy allows us to describe
    quantitatively this intriguing type of pattern dynamics through a
    continuum equation put forward in different contexts across a wide range
    of length scales. The ensuing predictions can thus be consistently
    extended to other experimental conditions in our system. Our results
    illustrate the occurrence of nonequilibrium systems in which pattern
    formation, coarsening, and kinetic roughening appear, each of these
    behaviors being associated with its own spatiotemporal range.