Optical properties of silicene, Si/Ag(111), and Si/Ag(110)

Abstract

Silver is a popular choice of substrate for the growth of nanostructured 1D and 2D silicon -- possibly silicenelike -- layers. First-principles simulations and measurements of reflectance anisotropy and surface differential reflectivity spectroscopy are applied to the study of single monolayer Si/Ag(111) and Si/Ag(110) interfaces. The authors demonstrate the absence of structural and electronic properties of freestanding, graphenelike silicene, finding evidence for strong Si-Ag bonding in the Si/Ag(111) case and the formation of pentagonal nanoribbons on Si/Ag(110). Many-body effects in the optical response of silicene are found to cancel out.