Preface: phys. stat. sol. (c) 5/8
Authors: Dickerson James H. , Cricenti Antonio , Tolk Norman 
Published: June 2008

These proceedings of physica status solidi (c) contain papers presented at the 7th conference on Optics of Surfaces and Interfaces: From Basic Research to Applications (OSI‐VII) held in Grand Targhee, Wyoming, USA, 15–20 July 2007. The OSI‐VII meeting is a continuation of a now established tradition of Epioptics workshops, Surface and Interface Optics conferences, and summer schools at Erice, Italy held since 1992. Starting with OSI‐V in León, Mexico in 2003 the new series of OSI conferences is organized every second year alternating with the Erice summer school devoted to the same topic.

OSI‐VII brought together 55 researchers and students from universities and institutes around the world working in different fields of optical spectroscopy at surfaces and interfaces. The goal was to evaluate the status of surface optical spectroscopy, seeking a closer connection between theory and experiment, and their interconnection with applied research. During the conference 65 presentations were given: 8 invited and 57 contributed of which 29 were posters. As a result, the present issue of physica status solidi (c) contains 28 papers that reflect the main topics of the meeting.

Linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopies have become important tools in surface and interface analysis where they can provide information on optical, electronic, vibronic and magnetic properties. The vision and intent of the meeting is to bridge the gap between basic and applied aspects. Apart from recent advances in theoretical modelling and experimental research, special attention is paid to novel techniques of optical spectroscopy at interfaces. Compared to classical electron spectroscopy optical techniques offer a basically different interaction mechanism. In addition, since they do not depend on vacuum to operate, optical techniques are very versatile, allowing analysis of solid–gas, solid–liquid and solid–solid interfaces in addition to solid–vacuum interfaces.

The presentations covered new developments and applications of various linear optical techniques such as reflection anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS), ellipsometry, and scanning near field optical microscopy (SNOM) as well as nonlinear spectroscopies such as second harmonic (SHG) and sum frequency (SFG) generation. The presentations contained new works on semiconducting and metallic systems as well as a significant number of works on organic structures and biological systems. As in science in general a clear trend towards nanostructured materials is observed in surface optics, both on the theoretical and the experimental side. Nanostructures with their large fraction of surface to volume atoms are indeed proving to be interesting subjects for studies with interface sensitive optical techniques. Nano‐optics, defined as the study of nano‐structured electromagnetic fields, where SNOM plays an important role as the primary experimental tool was a new and active field at the meeting. This technique opens the way to add lateral resolution well below the standard diffraction limit of far‐field optics to the surface sensitive spectroscopies. On the theoretical side a number of examples were presented where the experience from semi‐infinite surfaces was used on one‐ and two‐dimensional nanostructures. Several linear and nonlinear optical experimental studies of various nanostructures demonstrating the capabilities of surface optics in this field were presented.

We are grateful to Vanderbilt University for financial and personnel support, which facilitated a successful meeting. The large and dedicated work put into the practical arrangements before, under, and after the meeting by Sandy Childress, Ying Xu, Justin Gregory, Travis Wade and Heungman Park made possible a smoothly running conference. This was strongly appreciated by the participants in the conference. Also the quick response of both authors and reviewers allowing rapid publication of these proceedings is appreciated.

Nashville, TN, May 2008