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 …