Cluster assimilation and collisional filtering on metal-oxide surfaces

We present the first ab initio molecular dynamics study of collisions between metal-oxide clusters and surfaces. The resulting trajectories reveal that the internal degrees of freedom of the cluster play a defining role in collision outcome. The phase space of incoming internal temperature and translational energy exhibits regions where the collision process itself ensures that each cluster which does not rebound from the surface assimilates seamlessly onto it upon impact. This filtering may explain recent observations of a “fast smoothing mechanism” during pulsed laser deposition.