The study of reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of as grown and also hydrogen and nitrogen incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films, deposited using an S bend filtered cathodic vacuum arc process is reported here. First the effect of negative substrate bias on the properties of as grown ta-C films and next the effect of varying hydrogen and nitrogen partial pressure at a high substrate bias of -300 V on the properties of hydrogen and nitrogen incorporated ta-C (ta-C:H and ta-C:N) films are reported for the first time. The values of the optical band gap (E-g) evaluated using the reflectance spectra were found to decrease with the increase of the substrate bias in the as grown ta-C films. Hydrogen incorporation up to 1.9 x 10(-2) Pa partial pressure in as grown ta-C films increased the values of E-g and beyond which the values of E-g decreased while the nitrogen incorporation up to 3.0 x 10(-1) Pa partial pressure has no effect on the Eg values. The PL spectra indicated a strong peak at similar to 2.66 eV in as grown ta-C films deposited at -20 V substrate bias. This main peak was found to shift to higher energy with the increase of the substrate bias up to -200 V and thereafter the PL peak shifted towards the lower energy. Other peak at 3.135 eV starts appearing and this is found to start shifting to higher energy for films deposited at higher substrate bias. The intensity of the main PL peak was enhanced at low temperature and several other peaks started appearing in place of the broad peak at similar to 3.16 eV. The peak width and area of both the main peak were found to decrease with the increase of substrate bias in as grown ta-C films and with the increase of the hydrogen and nitrogen partial pressure used in depositing ta-C:H and ta-C:N films. The current models on the source of luminescence in amorphous carbon have been discussed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.