What Has Been Achieved
A new physical system has been predicted, which couples together two more traditional “surface science” systems by coupling the surfaces on opposite sides of a suspended 2D layer.
Importance of Achievement
This discovery takes the traditional field of surface science – the behavior of atoms on surfaces – and extends it in a new unanticipated direction where two such systems are weakly coupled to each other. This sort of coupling together of previously disparate systems is the domain in which new physics is found.
Unique Features of the MIP That Enabled Project
Access to high-performance computing resources capable of modeling the complex patterns of thousands of adsorbed atoms.
Publication
Y. Tang, C.C. Chia and V. H. Crespi, “Dual-Sided Adsorption: Devil’s Staircase of Coverage Fraction ”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 056101 (2018).
