Low temperature behavior of krypton monolayers on graphite

• Main Author: Shrimpton, Neil Douglas
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Krypton; Graphite
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/27531

The low temperature behaviour of a system of incommensurate krypton monolayers on graphite was analysed. The free energy was calculated for a variety of monolayer configurations and the misfit and orientation of the minimum energy configuration determined as a function of the temperature and chemical potential of the system. The free energy did not vary significantly over the temperature range from 0 K to 4 K. The zero point energy contributes significantly to the free energy and could not be neglected. The lowest energy vibrational modes were determined; these modes correspond to motion of the domain walls. For configurations with clearly separated domain walls the vibrational modes separated into groups of three (triads). In the lowest energy triad, the lowest energy mode was a compressional mode. The second and third lowest modes were shearing modes. These three modes describe the fundamental forms of domain wall motion. The modes of the higher energy triads are more energetic forms of the lowest energy triad. === Science, Faculty of === Physics and Astronomy, Department of === Graduate