FORMATION OF STEP DENSITY SHOCK WAVES ON VICINAL NaCl(100) GROWTH SURFACES

The morphology of the growth surface near NaCl(100), formed during the pore motion in a crystal due to the temperature gradient, has been studied by the electron microscopic method of vacuum decoration. It is shown that at T = 950 K and Delta mu/kT = 4 center dot 10(-3), the profile of the vicinal surface in the < 11 > direction is represented by monoatomic steps, while in the <10> direction,as the surface curvature increases, there is a grouping of steps with the formation of macrosteps - bunches of elementary steps separated by areas of atomically smooth terraces. The sawtooth dependence of the step density on the longitudinal coordinate is described by a particular solution of the Burgers equation for a shock wave. Data on the parameters of three shock waves and the time of their formation are obtained.