OBSERVATION OF THE TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF THE (1X2) RECONSTRUCTED AU(110) SURFACE USING SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY

We present scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) observations of the Au(110) (1 x 2) reconstructed surface under ultrahigh vacuum conditions at room temperature. Selected pictures from sequences of STM images taken over several hours are discussed using basic building blocks consisting of steps and domain walls. The temporal evolution of surface structures is clearly observed. Our results unravel the important influence of domain boundaries on the kinetics of the surface in stabilizing energetically unfavorable geometries, such as steps along the [001] direction or steps exposing (331) minifacets.