Reflectance Difference Spectroscopy (RDS) is an optical technique which measures the difference in reflectivity at normal incidence for light linearly polarized along two orthogonal directions [1]. RDS was initially developed as a reliable tool for monitoring the growth of cubic semiconductors: in this case the response of the optically isotropic bulk cancels out, leaving only the contributions of the surface and interfaces were the cubic symmetry is broken. At the Atomic Physics and Surface Science division (AOP), RDS has been successfully applied to surface science research and has become an indispensable tool for the investigation of surface electronic structures [2], adsorption/desorption kinetics [3], organic and inorganic thin film growth [4], ion and photon irradiation on single crystal surfaces [5], etc. Recently, RDS has also been applied to the study of nanomaterials like metal clusters [6] and nanopatterned surfaces. The pronounced sensitivity of RDS to surface adsorbates [7], orientation and conformation of organic molecules [8], surface strain [9], particle and surface plasmons [10], opens a broad field of applications for RDS - not only in fundamental scientific research but also in surface analytics and process control in industrial environments [11].

The spectrometer shown in Fig. 1 is a commercial instrument (UVISEL, Horiba Jovin-Yvon), in which the polarization of the light of a Xe lamp is periodically modulated by means of a photoelastic modulator (PEM) and directed onto the sample at normal incidence. Upon reflection, the modulated signal is spectroscopically analyzed by means of a diffraction grating monochromator and a photo-multiplier tube in the photon energy range from 1.5 to 5.5 eV. The present setup allows well resolved detection of optical anisotropies of the order of 10^-4.

Besides in spectroscopic mode, data can also be acquired in kinetic mode by recording RD transients at a single photon energy, thus allowing the real-time monitoring of kinetic or time-critical processes such as adsorption/desorption, ordering phenomena, or phase transitions [12].

Inside the VT-STM chamber the sample can be magnetized, and the RDS can be used to characterize the magnetic properties via the (polar) magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) [13]. In contrast to conventional MOKE setups operating at a fixed single wavelength, RD-MOKE supplies the full spectral information.

Ex-situ, the instrument can be combined with a computer-controlled sample rotation stage to obtain so-called azimuth-dependent RDS (ADRDS) spectra, which can be used to precisely determine the orientation of the optical axes in complex anisotropic samples, such as semi-crystalline extruded polymers [14] or to remove interference fringes in partially transparent substrates or films [15].

Meanwhile, we have started to build our own RDS equipment and to develop new instruments and applications (see, for instance, the rotating-compensator based RCRDS design [16]).

For more information please contact: Lidong Sun, Michael Hohage or Peter Zeppenfeld
 

References:

1. P. Weightman, D.S. Martin, R.J. Cole, T. Farrell
   Reflection anisotropy spectroscopy
   Rep. Prog. Phys. 68 (2005) 1251
2. L.D. Sun, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld, R. E. Balderas-Navarro
   Origin and temperature dependence of the surface optical anisotropy on Cu(110)
   Surf. Sci. 589 (2005) 153
3. L.D. Sun, E. Demirci, R.E. Balderas-Navarro, A. Winkler, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
   Optical characterization of methanol adsorption on the bare and oxygen precovered Cu(110) surface
   Surf. Sci. 604 (2010) 824
4. L.D. Sun, G. Weidlinger, M. Denk, R. Denk, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
   Stranski-Krastanov growth of para-sexiphenyl on Cu(110)-(2x1)O revealed by optical spectroscopy
   Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 12 (2010) 14706
5. T. Brandstetter, M. Draxler, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld, T. Stehrer, J. Heitz, N. Georgiev, D. Martinotti, H.-J. Ernst
   Effects of laser irradiation on the morphology of Cu(110)
   Phys. Rev. B 78 (2008) 035433
6. J.M. Flores-Camacho, L.D. Sun, N. Saucedo-Zeni, G. Weidlinger, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
   Optical anisotropies of metal clusters supported on a birefringent substrate
   Phys. Rev. B 78 (2008) 075416
7. L.D. Sun, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld, R.E. Balderas-Navarro, K. Hingerl
   Enhanced optical sensitivity to adsorption due to depolarization of anisotropic surface states
   Phys. Rev. Lett. 90 (2003) 106104
8. Y. Hu, K. Maschek, L. D. Sun, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
   para-sexiphenyl thin film growth on Cu(110) and Cu(110)-(2x1)O surfaces
   Surf. Sci. 600 (2006) 762
9. L. D. Sun, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld, R. E. Balderas-Navarro, Kurt Hingerl
   Strain oscillations probed with light
   Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 016105
10. J.M. Flores-Camacho, G. Weidlinger, N. Saucedo-Zeni, L.D. Sun, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
    In-situ characterization of metal clusters supported on a birefringent substrate using reflectance difference spectroscopy
    Appl. Phys. A 98 (2010) 499
11. K. Schmidegg, M. Bergsmann, M. Hohage, L.D. Sun, P. Zeppenfeld
    In-line monitoring of ultra-thin metallic films on PET substrates with sub-nm resolution
    SVC Technical Conference Proceedings (2007) 677
12. L.D. Sun, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
    Oxygen-induced reconstructions of Cu(110) studied by reflectance difference spectroscopy
    Phys. Rev. B 69 (2004) 045407
13. R. Denk, M. Hohage, P. Zeppenfeld
    Extreme sharp spin reorientation transition in ultrathin Ni films grown on Cu(110)-(2x1)O
    Phys. Rev. B 79 (2009) 073407
14. K. Schmidegg, L.D. Sun, P. Zeppenfeld
    Optical and mechanical anisotropies of oriented poly(ethylene terephthalate) films
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 (2006) 051906
15. K. Schmidegg and P. Zeppenfeld
    Separation of coherent and incoherent contributions to reflectance difference spectra
    Appl. Phys. Lett. 90 (2007) 231903
16. C. G. Hu, L.D. Sun, Y.N. Li, J.M. Flores-Camacho, M. Hohage, X.T. Hu, P. Zeppenfeld
    A rotating-compensator based reflectance difference spectrometer for fast spectroscopic measurements
    Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81 (2010) 043108