Excitation of Molecular Vibrational Modes with Inelastic Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Processes: Examination through Action Spectra of cis-2-Butene on Pd(110)

摘要

Inelastically tunneled electrons from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) were used to inducevibrationally mediated motion of a single cis-2-butene molecule among four equivalent orientations onPd(110) at 4.8 K. The action spectrum obtained from the motion clearly detects more vibrational modesthan inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy with a STM. We demonstrate the usefulness of the actionspectroscopy as a novel single molecule vibrational spectroscopic method. We also discuss its selectionrules in terms of resonance tunneling.