Chladni figures at the nanoscale

C Taillan and N Combe and J Morillo, EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL B, 88, 317 (2015).

DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2015-60695-x

On a substrate submitted to a standing surface acoustic wave, an adatom diffuses and preferentially locates in the vicinity of anti-nodes of the transversal displacements of the wave. Using molecular dynamics simulations, the physical mechanism yielding this structuration is revealed: the adatom is mainly driven by the time-varying longitudinal displacement field of the wave. Besides, the intensity of the structuration as a function of the substrate temperature and of the amplitude, direction and frequency of the wave is studied.

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