Scaling and universality in the kinetic smoothening of interfaces: Application to the analysis of the relaxation of rough vicinal steps of an oxide surface

Thi Thu Thuy Nguyen (1) , Daniel Bonamy (1) , Laurent Phan Vam (1) , Jacques Cousty (1) , Luc Barbier (1)

1 SPCSI - Service de Physique et de Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces

Relaxation of initially out-of-equilibrium rough interfaces in 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. A distinctive feature of the transient smoothening regime resides in the existence of a super-universal exponent, i.e. independent of the considered model. This approach allows interpreting a series of AFM images of sapphire surfaces showing the thermal evolution of initially rough step edges.

Mots clés: Interface and surface thermodynamics; Dynamic critical phenomena Interface structure and roughness Microscopy of surfaces; interfaces; and thin films

Domaines: Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]

Thi Thu Thuy Nguyen, Daniel Bonamy, Laurent Phan Vam, Jacques Cousty, Luc Barbier. Scaling and universality in the kinetic smoothening of interfaces: Application to the analysis of the relaxation of rough vicinal steps of an oxide surface. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2010, 89 (6), pp.60005. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/89/60005⟩. ⟨hal-00375416v1⟩