We have developed a new scanning-tunneling-microscopy-based spectroscopy technique to characterize infrared (IR) absorption of submonolayers of molecules on conducting crystals. The technique employs a scanning tunneling microscope as a precise detector to measure the expansion of a molecule-decorated crystal that is irradiated by IR light from a tunable laser source. Using this technique, we o...

Spatial resolution at the atomic scale has been achieved in the coupling of light to single molecules adsorbed on a surface. Electron transfer to a single molecule induced by green to near-infrared light in the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) exhibited spatially varying probability that is confined within the molecule. The mechanism involves photo-induced resonant tunneling in...

The influence of relative electron tunneling rates on electron transport in a double-barrier single-molecule junction is studied. The junction is defined by positioning a scanning tunneling microscope tip above a copper phthalocyanine molecule adsorbed on a thin oxide film grown on the NiAl(110) surface. By tuning the tip-molecule separation, the ratio of tunneling rates through the two barrier...

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy are employed in studies of the proximity effect between normal metals and superconductors. The experimental configuration is unique, in that the tunneling current flows in parallel to the interfaces between different materials. The samples are superconducting wires consisting of ordered arrays of submicron diameter normal-metal filaments, either Cu...

We have successfully added ps temporal resolution to scanning tunneling microscope (STM) light emission spectroscopy. STM light emission spectra of Sb2Te3 were measured in the configuration that the tip sample gap of the STM is irradiated by a pair of pump and probe laser pulses with a duration less than 2 ps each, and were analyzed as a function of optical delay time between the pump and probe...

Manipulation of Ag nanocrystals derived from up to 200 000 atoms was performed using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By varying the scanning conditions, it was possible to move them laterally on contamination-free Si~111!-737 surfaces or to remove them. In both cases, thin Ag tracks were left behind. This demonstrates the concepts of nano patterning and nano painting with metals on ...

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) has gone through a tremendous evolution to become indispensable for many and diverse scientific and industrial applications. The improvements have significantly enriched and augmented the overall SEM performance and have made the instrument far easier to operate. But, the ease of operation also might lead, through operator complacency, to poor results. In ...