Laser Reflection as a Technique for the Study of Dynamic Changes in Surface Morphology

Abstract

Changes in the surface morphology of a growing or evaporating crystal were measured by observing the intensity variation of a laser beam reflected from the crystalline surface of interest. In a specific application, the evaporation flux resulting from developing thermal etch pits on the (0001) plane of arsenic was successfully correlated to a function of the laser intensity and time.