Laser Ellipsometric Probe in Studying the Surface Stochastic Processes of Nucleation and Growth

A technique for studying quasisteady-state stochastic processes of the initiation, development, and growth of new phase nuclei at a metal–gas or metal–electrolyte phase boundary at the initial stages of oxidation and reduction of metals and alloys is developed. Any optical noise of the fluctuating intensity of a reflected laser emission has its own spectrum. Analyzing it enables one to determine the initiation frequency of new phase nuclei, as well as the size and characteristic time of their accelerated growth, especially during the adsorption and nucleation, when the process is initially microlocalized and nonuniformly randomly distributed over the surface.