Leapfrog Diffusion Mechanism for One-Dimensional Chains on Missing-Row Reconstructed Surfaces

Abstract

We analyze the in-channel diffusion of dimers and longer $n$-adatom chains on Au and Pt (110) $(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}2)$ surfaces by molecular dynamics simulations. From our calculations it arises that, on the missing-row reconstructed surface, a novel diffusion process, called leapfrog, dominates over concerted jumps, thus becoming the most frequent diffusion mechanism.