Adatom generated spatially oscillating strain fields on isotropic and other substrates

Abstract

An extended elastic eigenvector approach for adatom interactions is applied to elastically isotropic substrates. The oscillating interactions between adatom monomers or dimers are caused by strain fields in the substrate. Expansive or contractive strain fields are surrounding adatoms in form of quasi circular rings. The exact shape of the ring structure depends on the elastic constants of the substrate and especially on the surface Brillouin zone. Interactions on isotropic substrates are depicted and compared with an anisotropic example. Overlays of 2-D plots can help to identify adatom structures caused by elastic effects and to prepare numerical calculations of their elastic energies. The consequences of different sorts of adatoms with different interaction sign are sketched, large short distance attraction could occur in such cases. Limitations of the method are discussed and possible applications are formulated.