Spiral crystal growth

We numerically study the spiral mode of crystal growth using a theory developed by Burton, Cabrera and Frank using a level set method. This method is novel in that it can handle not only closed curves but open curves as well. We use our method to compute interacting spirals and make estimates of growth rates. We also propose a possible coarsening mechanism for a large number of interacting spirals. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.