Long-range spatial self-organization in the adsorbate-induced restructuring of surfaces: Cu{100}-(2 x 1)O.

He diffraction and scanning-tunneling-microscopy investigations on the growth or the Cu{110}-(2×1)O added-row structure reveal a novel phenomenon: the long-range spatialself-organization or two-dimensional islands. In a wide coverage range the anisotropic Cu-O islands arrange themselves in a striped periodic supergrating, with the stripes running along the (001) direction. The spacing or the supergrating depends on oxygen coverage and temperature and varies between 140 and 60 A