The collective vibrational dynamics of epitaxial dislocation arrays were studied in strained-layer structures which had been grown beyond the critical thickness. Calculations which were carried out, within the framework of isotropic elasticity theory, revealed the nature of the dynamic correlations which originated in the assembly of fluctuating dislocation lines. It was shown that, due to the shielding ability of image interactions, the elastic response of a dislocation net could be described in terms of an effective stiffness modulus. It was found that the spectrum of collective excitations in the dislocation population exhibited a sensitive dependence not only upon interface mismatch, but also varied with the epilayer thickness. The results were used to determine mean-square fluctuations in the dislocation ensemble and to characterize its entropy.

Involvement of image forces in the dynamics of epitaxial dislocation arrays L.B.Hovakimian, S.Tanaka: Journal of Crystal Growth, 1999, 198-199[1-4], 900-4