Effects of elastic anisotropy on the periodicity and orientation of striped stress domain patterns at solid surfaces

Abstract

The length scale of stress domain patterns formed at solid surfaces is usually calculated using isotropic elasticity theory. Because this length depends exponentially on elastic constants, deviations between isotropic and anisotropic elasticity can lead to large errors. Another inaccuracy of isotropic elasticity theory is that it neglects the dependence of elastic relaxations on stripe orientation. To remove these inaccuracies, we calculate the energy of striped domain patterns using anisotropic elasticity theory for an extensive set of surfaces encountered in experimental studies of self-assembly. We present experimental and theoretical evidence that elastic anisotropy is large enough to determine the stripe orientation when Pb is deposited on Cu(111). Our analytical and numerical results should be useful for analysis of a broad range of experimental systems.