Nanostructures. Self-assembled domain patterns.

The ordered domain patterns that form spontaneously in a wide variety of chemical and physical systems as a result of competing interatomic interactions can be used as templates for fabricating nanostructures. Here we describe a new self-assembling domain pattern on a solid surface that involves two surface structures of lead on copper. The evolution of the system agrees with theoretical predictions, enabling us to probe the interatomic force parameters that are crucial to the process.