Vibrational states on vicinal surfaces of Al, Ag, Cu and Pd

We present the calculation of vibrational modes and lattice relaxation for the (110), (211), (311), (511), (331) and (221) surfaces of Al, Ag, Cu and Pd. The surface phonon frequencies and polarizations are obtained for relaxed and unrelaxed surfaces using embedded atom model potentials. On all surfaces studied step-localized vibrational modes and surface states localized on terrace atoms are found. It is shown that as the terrace width increases so does the number of surface phonons. It is found that interlayer relaxation leads to a shift in the frequencies of the surface states and to a change in the number and localization. In particular, it may cause the appearance or disappearance of step modes. It is shown that the character of relaxation on vicinal surfaces is determined by the number of atoms on a terrace. A comparison of the results with the available experimental data for the A(221), Cu(211), and Cu(511) surfaces indicates that there is a good agreement with the experimental data. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.