We investigate dendritic sidebranching during crystal growth in an undercooled melt by simulation of a phase-field model which incorporates thermal noise of microscopic origin. As a nontrivial quantitative test of this model, we first show that the simulated fluctuation spectrum of a one-dimensional interface in thermal equilibrium agrees with the exact sharp-interface spectrum up to an irrelevant short-wavelength cutoff comparable to the interface thickness. Simulations of dendritic growth are then carried out in two dimensions to compute sidebranching characteristics (root-mean-square amplitude and sidebranch spacing) as a function of distance behind the tip. These quantities are compared quantitatively to the predictions of the existing linear WKB theory of noise amplification. The extension of this study to three dimensions remains needed to determine the origin of noise in experiments.

• Received 2 February 1999

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.60.3614