| Issue |
EPL
Volume 89, Number 6, March 2010
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 60005 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/89/60005 | |
| Published online | 19 April 2010 | |
Scaling and universality in the kinetic smoothening of interfaces: Application to the analysis of the relaxation of rough vicinal steps of an oxide surface
CEA, IRAMIS, SPCSI - 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France, EU
Corresponding author: daniel.bonamy@cea.fr
Received:
13
November
2009
Accepted:
10
March
2010
Relaxation of initially out-of-equilibrium rough interfaces in the presence of thermal noise is investigated using Langevin formalism. During thermal equilibration towards the well-known roughening regime, three scaling regimes observed over three successive ranges of length-scales are evidenced: thermal roughening (late stage) at small scales, transient smoothening at intermediate scales and remnant of the initial conditions at large scales. A generalization of the Family-Vicsek scaling is found for the smoothening regime. This approach allows interpreting a series of AFM images of sapphire surfaces showing the thermal evolution of initially rough step edges.
PACS: 05.70.Np – Interface and surface thermodynamics / 64.60.Ht – Dynamic critical phenomena / 68.35.Ct – Interface structure and roughness
© EPLA, 2010
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