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Direct measurement of growth kinetics of elementary steps on ice basal faces

Harutoshi Asakawa ,  Gen Sazaki ,  Ken Nagashima ,  Shunichi Nakatubo ,  Yoshinori Furukawa 

Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University (ILTS), N19-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan

Abstract
 The phase transition of ice plays crucially important role in a wide variety of fields because of the abundance of ice on earth. However, molecular level understanding of growth kinetics has been an experimental challenge. Here we demonstrate, by advanced optical microscopy [1, 2], the kinetics of individual elementary steps on ice basal faces grown from water vapor. We first observed the advancement of spiral steps, and found that step velocities Vstep decreased with decreasing distances L between adjacent spiral steps, when L was smaller than 16 µm (Figure 1.). From the BCF theory [3], in which the competition of adjacent spiral steps for admolecules diffusing on a terrace was taken into account, we obtained mean migration distance χs=4±5 µm. Next we also found that intrinsic step velocities Vstepint, which shows Vstep of isolated elementary steps (whose L is much longer than 2χs), increased linearly with increasing water vapor pressure PH2O, when PH2O < 350 Pa (Figure 2.). A step kinetic coefficient analyzed from the linear relation was 95.32 µm/s. In contrast, Vstepint remained constant irrespective of PH2O, when PH2O > 350 Pa. No models reported so far could explain such constant behavior of Vstepint

. 

Figure 1. The dependence of step velocities Vstep on distances L between adjacent steps at sample temperature of -8.4 °C and PH2O = 334.70 Pa.

Figure 2. The dependence of isolated step velocities Vstepint on water vapor pressures PH2O at sample temperature of -8.4 °C.

References

  1.  G. Sazaki, et al., J. Crystal Growth, 262, 536-542 (2004).
  2.  G. Sazaki, et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA., 107, 19702-19707 (2010).
  3.  W.Burton, et al, Phil. Trans., 243, 299-358 (1951).

 

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Presentation: Poster at 15th Summer School on Crystal Growth - ISSCG-15, by Harutoshi Asakawa
See On-line Journal of 15th Summer School on Crystal Growth - ISSCG-15

Submitted: 2013-05-08 11:51
Revised:   2013-05-27 10:15