Introduction

Abstract

While the focus of this monograph is on developments of the past decade, our subject has a long and rather eventful history. It therefore seems appropriate to begin with a few historical remarks, which emphasize the important role that visual evidence has played in advancing the atomistic understanding of crystal growth. In subsequent parts of this introductory chapter we place our subject into the broader contexts of crystal growth, thin film deposition and epitaxy, and we provide a brief outline of the book.

To him the patterns were highly remarkable and of the utmost importance, for the chip of glass in his eye made him see them that way. H.C. Andersen, The Snow Queen