Step-Induced Optical Anisotropy of Vicinal Si(001)

Vicinal Si(111) surfaces studied by optical second-harmonic generation: Step-induced anisotropy and surface-bulk discrimination.

Study of in-plane magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin epitaxial Fe films grown on vicinal Mo„110... surface

In situ surface magneto-optical Kerr effect was used in conjunction with scanning tunneling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction to study the in-plane magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin Fe films on a vicinal Mo~110! substrate. A uniaxial anisotropy with the easy axis of magnetization along the @001# direction was found for this system down to nearly 2 monolayers coverage, contradicting ...

Self-assembling and self-ordering of Ge islands on vicinal Si(001) surfaces

Fabrication of semiconductor quantum dot structures with a regular in-plane spatial distribution and optimum size uniformity is highly desirable for applications of their novel optical and electronic properties. This remains a challenging subject, especially on the nanometer scale. The strain-driven self-assembled formation of Ge islands on Si during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in the Stranski...

Tailoring the magnetic anisotropy of Py/Ni bilayer films using well aligned atomic steps on Cu(001)

Tailoring the spin orientation at the atomic scale has been a key task in spintronics technology. While controlling the out-of-plane to in-plane spin orientation has been achieved by a precise control of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at atomic layer thickness level, a design and control of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy has not yet been well developed. On well aligned atomic steps of ...

Effect of step stiffness and diffusion anisotropy on the meandering of a growing vicinal surface.

We study the step meandering instability on a surface characterized by the alternation of terraces with different properties, as in the case of Si(001). The interplay between diffusion anisotropy and step stiffness induces a finite wavelength instability corresponding to a meandering mode. The instability sets in beyond a threshold value which depends on the relative magnitudes of the destabili...