Contribution of steps to optical properties of vicinal diamond (100):H surfaces

We apply reflection anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) to high-quality atomically smooth H/C(100) 2×1 surfaces. The optical signal of the H/C(100) 0° flat surface, and of the H/C(100) 2° and H/C(100) 4° vicinal surfaces, is investigated in terms of single and double steps. A comparison of experimental and theoretical results obtained from ab initio calculations shows that, in the energy range considered (1–5 eV), the RAS response can be interpreted in terms of single height SB and double height DA steps.