Probing Disordered Substrates by Imaging the Adsorbate in its Fluid Phase

Abstract

Several recent imaging experiments access the equilibrium density profiles of interacting particles confined to a two-dimensional substrate. When these particles are in a fluid phase, we show that such data yields precise information regarding substrate disorder as reflected in one-point functions and two-point correlations of the fluid. Using Monte Carlo simulations and replica generalizations of liquid state theories, we extract unusual two-point correlations of time-averaged density inhomogeneities induced by disorder. Distribution functions such as these have not hitherto been measured but should be experimentally accessible.

10 pages revtex 4 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Vortex Imaging in the pi-Band of Magnesium Diboride
• Real time magneto-optical imaging of vortices in superconductors
• Elastic properties of 2D colloidal crystals from video microscopy

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