Strain solitons are quasi-dislocations that form in van der Waals materials to relieve the energy associated with lattice or rotational mismatch. Novel electronic properties of strain solitons were predicted and observed. To date, strain solitons have been observed only in exfoliated crystals or mechanically strained crystals. The lack of a scalable approach toward the generation of strain solitons poses a significant challenge in the study of and use of their properties. Here, we report the formation of strain solitons with epitaxial growth of bismuth on InSb(111)B by molecular beam epitaxy. The morphology of the strain solitons for films of varying thickness is characterized with scanning tunneling microscopy, and the local strain state is determined from atomic resolution images. Bending in the solitons is attributed to interactions with the interface, and large angle bending is associated with edge dislocations. Our results enable the scalable generation of strain solitons.

中文翻译：

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外延应变范德华材料中的应变孤子

应变孤子是在范德华材料中形成的准位错，用于释放与晶格或旋转失配相关的能量。预测并观察到了应变孤子的新电子特性。迄今为止，仅在剥落晶体或机械应变晶体中观察到应变孤子。缺乏可扩展的应变孤子生成方法给其特性的研究和使用带来了重大挑战。在这里，我们报道了通过分子束外延在 InSb(111)B 上外延生长铋形成应变孤子。使用扫描隧道显微镜表征不同厚度薄膜的应变孤子的形态，并根据原子分辨率图像确定局部应变状态。孤子的弯曲归因于与界面的相互作用，大角度弯曲与边缘位错相关。我们的结果使得应变孤子的可扩展生成成为可能。