Probing disordered substrates by imaging the adsorbate in its fluid phase

¹ S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Block JD, Sector III Salt Lake, Kolkata 700 098, India
² The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, CIT Campus Taramani, Chennai 600 113, India

Corresponding authors: ankush@bose.res.in surajit@bose.res.in menon@imsc.res.in

Received: 4 March 2005
Accepted: 4 April 2005

Abstract

Several recent imaging experiments access the equilibrium density profiles of a monolayer of interacting particles confined to a two-dimensional substrate. When these particles are in a fluid phase, we show that such data yields precise information regarding substrate disorder as reflected in one-point functions and two-point correlations of the fluid. Using Monte Carlo simulations and replica generalizations of liquid state theories, we extract unusual two-point correlations of time-averaged density inhomogeneities induced by disorder. Correlation functions such as these have not hitherto been measured but should be experimentally accessible.