Reflection anisotropy and morphology of the Pd/Cu(1 1 0) surface alloy

We investigate the reflection anisotropy (RA) of the Pd–Cu surface alloy formed by depositing Pd onto the thermally roughened Cu(1 1 0) surface. Studies of the growth mechanism of Pd on Cu(1 1 0) have been reported, however, little is known about the optical properties of the resulting surface alloy. We report RA results obtained from mixed Pd–Cu surfaces created by deposition of Pd from the sub-monolayer regime up to 7 ML. We also investigate the effect of annealing on the 7 ML deposit. We interpret changes in the RA response by considering scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) data and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) data obtained from these surfaces.