From two-dimensional heterogeneous nucleation-induced kinetic roughening to needle-like pattern formation

Abstract

We report in this letter a special type of kinetic roughening at a growing crystal face induced by foreign particles. At relatively low supercoolings, the faceted growth of the {110} faces of naphthalene crystals from its melt reveals a transition from smooth to rough growth when foreign particles are in contact with the crystal surface, and followed by an increase in the growth rate. This is due to the vanishing of the two-dimensional nucleation barrier at the particle contact area, which gives rise to the formation of a needle-like pattern formation at the contact point. At high supercoolings, the particle-induced kinetic roughening is suppressed. The particle-induced kinetic roughening was also observed at the {110} faces of n-C21 H44 crystals. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.