Observation of Surface-Melting-Induced Faceting

Medium-energy-ion scattering measurements on vicinal surfaces in the [ 10] zone around Pb(111), at a temperature close to the bulk melting point, demonstrate a new phenomenon, surface-melting-induced faceting . A range is identified of surface orientations θ d < θ < θ m which are unstable at high temperatures. These vicinal surfaces spontaneously facet into the dry orientation θ d and the melted orientation θ m .