Epioptics: linear and non-linear optical spectroscopy of surfaces and interfaces

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Abstract
Recent developments in optical spectroscopy applied to surfaces and interfaces are discussed in this short review. It is shown that, by exploiting the underlying physics of the various techniques, submonolayer resolution can be obtained using photons as both probe and signal. Recent examples of the use of reflection difference spectroscopy, reflection anisotropy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy and optical second-harmonic generation are described, with particular emphasis on ultra-high vacuum studies of systems which have been characterised using conventional surface probes.