Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 999–1002 (1999)Two-Dimensional Phase Transition Mediated by Extrinsic DefectsReceived 22 February 1999; published in the issue dated 2 August 1999 We have investigated the (√3×√3) to (3×3) phase transition in the α phase of Sn/Ge(111) with variable temperature STM at temperatures between 30 and 300 K. Point defects in the Sn film stabilize localized regions of the (3×3) phase, where the size is characterized by a temperature dependent length (exponential attenuation). The inverse of the attenuation length is a linear function of temperature showing that the phase transition occurs at 70 K. At low temperature a density wave mediated defect-defect interaction realigns the defects to be in registry with the (3×3) domains. © 1999 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.999
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.999
PACS:
68.35.Rh, 68.35.Bs, 71.45.Lr, 72.10.Fk
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