Surface self-diffusion of an organic glass

Surface self-diffusion has been measured for an organic glass for the first time. The flattening of 1000 nm surface gratings of liquid indomethacin occurs by viscous flow at 12 K or more above the glass transition temperature and by surface diffusion at lower temperatures. Surface diffusion is at least 10(6) times faster than bulk diffusion, indicating a highly mobile surface. Our data suggest that surface diffusion is the leading mechanism of surface evolution for organic glasses at micrometer to nanometer length scales.