Surface defects of a new type were found on reconstructed Au(001) surfaces following 600eV Ar+ ion bombardment. They appear as shallow areas 0.6Å deep, one short period of the reconstruction (14.4Å) wide. It was proposed that these defects were dislocation dipoles in the hexagonal reconstructed layer, originated by the collapse of surface vacancies. After higher ion doses, large patches of unreconstructed areas surrounded by perpendicular reconstruction domains, also caused by surface-vacancies-induced modifications of the reconstructed layer, were present.

Surface Defects and Reconstruction Instabilities in Au(001). M.A.González, J.de la Figuera, O.Rodríguez de la Fuente, J.M.Rojo: Surface Science, 1999, 429[1-3], L486-91