Monte Carlo Simulations of Structural and Thermodynamic Properties of Xe Clusters Adsorbed on Graphite

Atomic clusters from 7 up to 1300 Xe atoms adsorbed on a graphite surface have been studied using the Monte Carlo method. The interaction model includes all physically important terms. In particular, the interaction of Xe atoms with the substrate includes the corrugation energy with a periodicity that corresponds to the graphite 001 planes. Results show that the Xe layers are never uniformly incommensurate because locally they always try to accommodate their structure to the corrugation of the surface. The competition between the atom-atom and atom-surface interaction leads to modulated Xe layer structures with a local tendency to form registered areas.