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Optical characterization of gold chains and steps on the vicinal Si(557) surface: Theory and experiment
Author(s) -
Hogan Conor,
McAlinden Niall,
McGilp John F.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201100759
Subject(s) - vicinal , monatomic gas , materials science , anisotropy , silicon , adsorption , characterization (materials science) , surface (topology) , coupling (piping) , chemical physics , molecular physics , chemistry , nanotechnology , optics , optoelectronics , physics , metallurgy , organic chemistry , geometry , mathematics
Abstract We present a joint experimental‐theoretical study of the reflectance anisotropy of clean and gold‐covered Si(557), a vicinal surface of Si(111) upon which gold forms quasi‐one‐dimensional (1D) chains parallel to the steps. By means of first‐principles calculations, we analyse the close relationship between the various surface structural motifs and the optical properties. Good agreement is found between experimental and computed spectra of single‐step models of both clean and Au‐adsorbed surfaces. Spectral fingerprints of monoatomic gold chains and silicon step edges are identified. The role of spin–orbit coupling (SOC) on the surface optical properties is examined, and found to have little effect.