Nonequilibrium wetting of finite samples

We study, as a canonical model for wetting far from thermal equilibrium, a Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface growing on top of a hard-core substrate. Depending on the average growth velocity, the model can exhibit a nonequilibrium wetting transition which is characterized by an additional surface critical exponent theta. Simulating the single-step model in one spatial dimension we provide accurate numerical estimates for theta and investigate the distribution of contact points between the substrate and the interface as a function of time. Moreover, we study the influence of finite size effects, in particular the time needed for a finite substrate to become completely covered by the wetting layer for the first time.