Vibrations of linear cobalt clusters on a stepped copper surface

The results of calculations of vibrational properties of cobalt dimers and trimers on the Cu(110) surface are reported. The local phonon density of states and their polarizations are analyzed. The calculations are performed using interatomic interaction potentials constructed in a tight-binding approximation. It was shown that the vibrational modes of the free standing dimer and trimer remain in the supported clusters but the revealed anisotropy of the local surface relaxation leads to deformation of the interatomic bonds and, as a result, to splitting and shifting of the phonon frequencies. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 67–73, January, 2009.