Numerical study of the disorder-driven roughening transition in an elastic manifold in a periodic potential.

Abstract

We study the roughening transition of a (3+1)-dimensional elastic manifold, which is driven by the competition between a periodic pinning potential and a random impurity potential. The elastic manifold is modeled by a solid-on-solid-type interface model, and the universal properties of the transition from a flat phase (for strong periodic potential) to a rough phase (for strong random potential) are investigated at zero temperature using a combinatorial optimization algorithm technique. We find that the transition is a continuous one. Critical exponents are estimated numerically, and compared with analytic results and those for a periodic elastic medium.