Observation of fractal nanoclusters on the pulsed laser deposition of gold

The results of studying the fractal structure of Au clusters arising in pulsed laser deposition under conditions of strong deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium are presented. A mechanism is suggested in which the formation of fractal nanoclusters is considered as a result of the decay of a strongly correlated initial state in a non-equilibrium system of adatoms. The geometrical shape of the fractal structures observed experimentally can be described within the given mechanism, and their dimensionality can be estimated.