2002/09/06 by D. B. Dougherty, Daniel B. Dougherty, I. Lyubinetsky +8 · 6 citations
Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Exponent #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Ion-surface interactions and analysis #Langevin equation #Mathematics #Persistence (discontinuity) #Persistence length #Physics #Position (finance) #Power law #Quantum mechanics #Statistical physics #Statistics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.89.136102
published as Phys.Rev.Lett. 89, 136102 (2002) · LaTeX, 11 pages, 4 figures, minor changes in References section
openalex publication_date 2002/09/06 · arxiv created 2002/09/16 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The persistence behavior for fluctuating steps on the Si(111)-(sqrt[3]xsqrt[3])R30 degrees -Al surface was determined by analyzing time-dependent STM images for temperatures between 770 and 970 K. Using the standard persistence definition, the measured persistence probability displays power-law decay with an exponent of theta=0.77+/-0.03. This is consistent with the value of theta=3/4 predicted for attachment-detachment limited step kinetics. If the persistence analysis is carried out in terms of return to a fixed-reference position, the measured probability decays exponentially. Numerical studies of the Langevin equation used to model step motion corroborate the experimental observations.