Eur. Phys. J. B (2015) 88: 317
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60695-x

Regular Article

Chladni figures at the nanoscale

¹ Centre d’Elaboration de Matériaux et d’Études Structurales, CNRS UPR 8011, 29 rue J. Marvig, BP 94347, 31055 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
² Université de Toulouse, UPS, 31055 Toulouse, France

^a e-mail: combe@cemes.fr

Received: 25 August 2015
Received in final form: 13 October 2015
Published online: 2 December 2015

Abstract

On a substrate submitted to a standing surface acoustic wave, an adatom diffuses and preferentially locates in the vicinity of anti-nodes of the transversal displacements of the wave. Using molecular dynamics simulations, the physical mechanism yielding this structuration is revealed: the adatom is mainly driven by the time-varying longitudinal displacement field of the wave. Besides, the intensity of the structuration as a function of the substrate temperature and of the amplitude, direction and frequency of the wave is studied.