Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 96: Focussed session: Theory and computation of electronic structure: new frontiers VIII (jointly with HL, DS)

O 96.3: Talk

Friday, March 18, 2011, 12:00–12:15, TRE Phy

Functionalized Tips Leading to Atomic-Resolution Force Microscopy — •Nikolaj Moll, Leo Gross, Fabian Mohn, Alessandro Curioni, and Gerhard Meyer — IBM Research -- Zürich, Säumerstrasse 4, CH-8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland

Performing atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a molecule or an atom at the tip the resolution can be dramatically enhanced as the resolution crucially depends on the chemical nature of the tip termination. A pentacene molecule is imaged with atomic resolution with a tip functionalized with a CO molecule. The interactions between the CO tip and the pentacene are studied with first principles calculations. The different energy contributions are analyzed, and the Pauli energy is computed. The source of the high resolution is Pauli repulsion, whereas van-der-Waals and electrostatic interactions only add a diffuse attractive background. To validate the usefulness of AFM with functionalized tips the natural product cephalandole A is studied.The measurements together with first principle calculations demonstrate that the direct imaging of an organic compound with AFM facilitates the accurate determination of its chemical structure. The method might be developed further towards molecular imaging with chemical sensitivity, and could solve certain classes of natural product structures.

[1] Leo Gross, Fabian Mohn, Nikolaj Moll, Peter Liljeroth, and Gerhard Meyer, Science 325, 1110-1114 (2009).

[2] Leo Gross, Fabian Mohn, Nikolaj Moll, Gerhard Meyer, Rainer Ebel, Wael M. Abdel-Mageed, and Marcel Jaspars, Nat. Chem. 2, 821-825 (2010).