Disordered Flat Phase and Phase Diagram for Restricted Solid on Solid Models of Fcc(110) Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase diagram of restricted solid-on-solid models for fcc(110) surfaces, revealing a disordered flat phase and transitions with characteristics similar to the 2D-Ising universality class.

Contribution

It introduces a modified SOS model capable of describing reconstructed and unreconstructed surfaces and analyzes its phase transitions using quantum spin mapping and Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

Identification of a disordered flat (DF) phase with monoatomic steps.

Discovery of a phase transition with 2D-Ising universality class characteristics.

Mapping of the surface problem onto a quantum spin-1/2 Hamiltonian.

Abstract

We discuss the results of a study of restricted solid-on-solid models for fcc (110) surfaces. These models are simple modifications of the exactly solvable BCSOS model, and are able to describe a $(2\times 1)$ missing-row reconstructed surface as well as an unreconstructed surface. They are studied in two different ways. The first is by mapping the problem onto a quantum spin-1/2 one-dimensional hamiltonian of the Heisenberg type, with competing $S^z_iS^z_j$ couplings. The second is by standard Monte Carlo simulations. We find phase diagrams with the following features, which we believe to be quite generic: (i) two flat, ordered phases (unreconstructed and missing-row reconstructed); a rough, disordered phase; an intermediate disordered flat (DF) phase, characterized by monoatomic steps, whose physics is shown to be akin to that of a dimer spin state. (ii) a transition line from the $(2\times 1)$ reconstructed phase to the DF phase showing exponents which appear to be close, within our numerical accuracy, to the 2D-Ising universality class. (iii) a critical (preroughening) line with variable exponents, separating the unreconstructed phase from the DF phase. Possible signatures and order parameters of the DF phase are investigated.