Step-bunching instability of growing interfaces between ice and supercooled water.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35238661.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.2115955119 and PMC identifier 8915970.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
SignificanceStep-bunching instability (SBI) is one of the interfacial instabilities driven by self-organization of elementary step flow associated with crystal-growth dynamics, which has been observed in diverse crystalline materials. However, despite theoretical suggestions of its presence, no direct observations of SBI for simple melt growth have been achieved so far. Here, with the aid of a type of optical microscope and its combination with a two-beam interferometer, we realized quantitative in situ observations of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the SBI. This enables us to examine the origin of the SBI at the level of the step-step interaction. We also found that the SBI spontaneously induces a highly stable spiral growth mode, governing the late stage of the growth process.