Optical response of the copper surface to carbon monoxide deposition

The optical response of the Cu surface upon CO deposition is investigated from the clean Cu(110) to the reconstructed CO/Cu(110)-p(2x1) geometry through ab initio electronic structure calculations. We ascribe the relevant structures in the calculated reflectance anisotropy spectrum of the reconstructed phase to the persistence of surface states transitions. These are excited by light polarized along the direction perpendicular to the one found at the clean surface. We devise a simple model for the evolution of the optical response in the adsorption process, identifying three different regimes. The impurity regime, at very low coverages, is characterized by a critical coverage that enhances the actual one by a factor of approximately 30, close to the value estimated experimentally.