Vibrationally Resolved Fluorescence Excited with Submolecular Precision

Tunneling electrons from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) were used to excite photon emission from individual porphyrin molecules adsorbed on an ultrathin alumina film grown on a NiAl(110) surface. Vibrational features were observed in the light-emission spectra that depended sensitively on the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2003-01, Vol.299 (5606), p.542-546
Main Authors: Qiu, X. H., Nazin, G. V., Ho, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atomic and molecular physics
Chemistry
Electrons
Emission spectra
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Fluorescence
Fluorescence and phosphorescence spectra
Fluorescence and phosphorescence
radiationless transitions, quenching (intersystem crossing, internal conversion)
Fluorescence spectroscopy
Laboratory Equipment
Light
Light emission
Molecular properties and interactions with photons
Molecular spectra
Molecules
Oxides
Photons
Physics
Plasma spectra
Plasmons
Spectroscopy
Visible spectrum
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Summary:Tunneling electrons from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) were used to excite photon emission from individual porphyrin molecules adsorbed on an ultrathin alumina film grown on a NiAl(110) surface. Vibrational features were observed in the light-emission spectra that depended sensitively on the different molecular conformations and corresponding electronic states obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The high spatial resolution of the STM enabled the demonstration of variations in light-emission spectra from different parts of the molecule. These experiments realize the feasibility of fluorescence spectroscopy with the STM and enable the integration of optical spectroscopy with a nanoprobe for the investigation of single molecules.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1078675