Elastic interaction between surface anisotropic defects and steps or kinks

We study the elastic interaction energy between an anisotropic ellipsoidal defect and a step on the surface of an elastic medium. The defect is represented by three mutually perpendicular double forces along three principal axes. Two of these principal axes are assumed to be equivalent, so the orientation of the defect with respect to the step is entirely defined by two Euler angles. The interaction energy is inversely proportional to the distance between the defect and the step. It presents three extrema which are obtained when one of the principal axes of the defect is perpendicular to the surface and another parallel to the edge of the step. For one of these particular orientations of the defect we discuss the effect induced by the presence of a kink.