A model of linear chain submonolayer structures. Application to Li/W(112) and Li/Mo(112)

Abstract

We propose a lattice gas model to account for linear chain structures adsorbed on (112) faces of W and Mo. The model includes a dipole-dipole interaction as well as a long-ranged indirect interaction. We have explicitly demonstrated that the periodic ground states depend on a competition between dipole-dipole and indirect interaction. The effect of temperature is studied within the molecular-field approximation. The numerical results show that for dipole-dipole interaction only, all long periodic linear chain phases are suppressed to low temperatures. However, when the long-range indirect interaction becomes important, the long-periodic linear chain phases start to fill up the phase diagram and develop a high thermal stability. Model parameters are chosen to reconstruct a sequence of long-periodic phases as observed experimentally for Li/Mo(112) and Li/W(112).