  Structural defects in a crystal are responsible for the "two length-scale"
behavior, in which a sharp central peak is superimposed over a broad peak in
critical diffuse X-ray scattering. We have previously measured the scaling
behavior of the central peak by scattering from a near-surface region of a V2H
crystal, which has a first-order transition in the bulk. As the temperature is
lowered toward the critical temperature, a crossover in critical behavior is
seen, with the temperature range nearest to the critical point being
characterized by mean field exponents. Near the transition, a small two-phase
coexistence region is observed. The values of transition and crossover
temperatures decay with depth. An explanation of these experimental results is
here proposed by means of a theory in which edge dislocations in the
near-surface region occur in walls oriented in the two directions normal to the
surface. The strain caused by the dislocation lines causes the ordering in the
crystal to occur as growth of roughly cylindrically shaped regions. After the
regions have reached a certain size, the crossover in the critical behavior
occurs, and mean field behavior prevails. At a still lower temperature, the
rest of the material between the cylindrical regions orders via a weak
first-order transition.
