Uniaxial incommensurate lattice of a quantum monolayer solid

Calculations are reported of the energy and structure of commensurate and uniaxially incommensurate monolayer lattices of molecular hydrogen and deuterium adsorbed on the basal-plane surface of graphite. The domain structure and energy for modulations driven by the periodic terms of the holding potential are determined. The calculations are based on a variational quantum-mechanical theory of a two-dimensional lattice and use the Silvera-Goldman model of the intermolecular potential. Results are in fair agreement with available experimental data.