APPLICATION OF THE FRENKEL-KONTOROVA MODEL TO SURFACE RECONSTRUCTIONS

The authors apply the Frenkel-Kontorova model to the case of surfaces where the natural bond-length within the surface layer is different from the substrate bond-length. A reconstruction may occur in which the surface density of atoms is either less than or greater than the bulk density. The stability of the unreconstructed surface is controlled by the ratio of two parameters which have simple physical interpretations. They discuss the stability of real metallic surfaces in terms of the values of these parameters, with particular reference to the (111) surfaces of gold, platinum, iridium and aluminium.