The silicon counterpart of graphene, the so called" silicene", has been so far a fascinating theoretical hypothesis, but only recent efforts have pushed it to concrete evidence thus triggering a tremendous interest in silicene for electronic applications and fundamental investigations. Indeed, in addition to graphene, silicene is expected to provide an intimate affinity with the Sibased technology but, unlike graphene, the silicene appears as a buckled lattice where various superstructures take place depending on the periodic distribution of buckled bonds. Here we elucidate the atomistic details of the 4x4 and√ 13×√ 13 silicene superstructures epitaxially grown on Ag (111) substrates. These silicene layers have been successfully encapsulated with Al 2 O 3 in order to access ex situ Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectrum of the encapsulated silicene has been self-consistently interpreted upon comparison with ab …