Anomalous diffusion mediated by atom deposition into a porous substrate

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Jan 30;102(4):045901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.045901. Epub 2009 Jan 29.

Abstract

Constant flux atom deposition into a porous medium is shown to generate a dense overlayer and a diffusion profile. Scaling analysis shows that the overlayer acts as a dynamic control for atomic diffusion in the porous substrate. This is modeled by generalizing the porous diffusion equation with a time-dependent diffusion coefficient equivalent to a nonlinear rescaling of time.