Regensburg 2000 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

O: Oberflächenphysik

O 30: Hauptvortrag

O 30.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 30, 2000, 15:15–16:00, H36

Inelastic electron tunneling processes in atomic manipulations — •Gerald Dujardin — Laboratoire de Photophysique Moleculaire,Bat. 210, Universite Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France

Experiments on individual atoms and molecules using the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) have opened up fascinating new areas of research. It has now become possible to fabricate atomic-scale structures of any desired geometry and to study their unique physical, chemical and electronic properties. By using the tip of the STM as an atomic-size electron source, a large variety of elementary manipulations can be performed. The control and the understanding of these effects engage fundamental new ideas and new concepts on the inelastic interaction of tunnel electrons with surfaces. Indeed, recent experiments on the desorption of individual hydrogen atoms from a Ge(111) surface with the STM have illustrated the unique features of tunnel electrons for selective surface electronic excitation, indicating that a proper understanding of these processes requires a coherent treatment of the electron source, the tunnel barrier and the surface.