Field evaporation end form at 4.2 K

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Field evaporation end forms of tungsten and iridium have been observed at several temperatures. At 21 K and above, the surfaces contain atoms in metastable positions which give rise to decorated zone lines, double plane edges and superstructures, but at 4.2 K these are scarcely observed. These results imply that at the higher temperatures an edge atom may migrate to a surface site before it evaporates, while at 4.2 K the edge atom may evaporate without surface migration. A considerable part of the migration energy is probably due to a field induced dipole-dipole repulsion.