Coherent Surface X-ray Scattering: Observation of Pt (001) Step-Flow Motion

We recently [1] observed oscillations of speckle intensities from the Pt (001) surface at high temperatures (T $>$ 1620K), persisting for tens of minutes. Using a model of hex-reconstructed terraces we showed that the observed oscillations come from surface dynamics due to sublimation induced step-flow motion. Our results demonstrate the possibility that coherent surface x-ray scattering (CSXS) can be applied to monitor the real-time evolution of surfaces. Hopefully CSXS can be extended further to in-situ ``real-world'' environments. This work and the use of the Advanced Photon Source were supported by the U.S. DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The work at Safarik University was supported by VEGA 1/0138/10 and VVCE-0058-007.\\[4pt] [1] M.S. Pierce, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 121910 (2011).