Abstract
We have recorded real-space images of Xe atoms adsorbed in a 4-K Pt111
surface. In the dilute coverage limit, we find nearly all the Xe
atoms at step edges. From this observation we deduce a lower limit
of hundreds of angstroms that Xe atoms scatter across the surface
before becoming thermally accommodated. This result is in sharp contrast
to previous studies of metal-atom adsorption on metal surfaces in
which it is believed that a large fraction of the impinging atoms
remain at their point of impact at low surface temperature. For Xe,
once the step sites are nearly saturated, point defects on the Pt111
surface nucleate the growth of compact, incommensurate, rotationally
ordered Xe islands. Thus, we have imaged the initiation of the growth
of a surface overlayer, and have identified the sites at which this
growth begins.
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