Atomic And Molecular Manipulation

Work with individual atoms and molecules aims to demonstrate that miniaturized electronic, optical, magnetic, and mechanical devices can operate ultimately even at the level of a single atom or molecule. As such, atomic and molecular manipulation has played an emblematic role in the development of the field of nanoscience. New methods based on the use of the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) have been developed to characterize and manipulate all the degrees of freedom of individual atoms and molecules with an unprecedented precision. In the meantime, new concepts have emerged to design molecules and substrates having specific optical, mechanical and electronic functions, thus opening the way to the fabrication of real nano-machines. Manipulation of individual atoms and molecules has also opened up completely new areas of research and knowledge, raising fundamental questions of "Optics at the atomic scale", "Mechanics at the atomic scale", Electronics at the atomic scale", "Quantum physics at the atomic scale", and "Chemistry at the atomic scale". This book aims to illustrate the main aspects of this ongoing scientific adventure and to anticipate the major challenges for the future in "Atomic and molecular manipulation" from fundamental knowledge to the fabrication of atomic-scale devices. Provides a broad overview of the field to aid those new and entering into this research area Presents a review of the historical development and evolution of the field Offers a clear personalized view of current scanning probe microscopy research from world experts

With the invention of scanning probe techniques in the early 1980s, scientists can now play with single atoms, single molecules, and even single bonds. Force, dynamics, and function can now be probed at the single-molecule level. Molecular Manipulation with Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) presents a series of topics that discuss concepts and methodologies used to manipulate and study single (bio)molecules with AFM. The first part is dedicated to the pulling of single molecules with force spectroscopy to investigate molecular interactions, mechanics, and mechanochemical processes, and the second part to the manipulation, repositioning, and targeted delivery of single molecules on substrates. Single molecule manipulation is an exciting area of research which made important breakthroughs in nanoscience and which could find potential applications in a diverse range of disciplines, including chemistry, biology, physics, material and polymer science, and engineering. New and experienced AFM researchers looking for applications beyond imaging will find a wealth of information in this informative volume.

To understand chemistry is to be able to control it. The fulfillment of this long sought after goal ultimately hinges on a detailed knowledge at the atomic and molecular level. Control of chemistry not only provides insights into known materials and phenomena but also leads to chemicals with novel compositions, structures, and functions. The primary objective of this project is to use a homemade, variable low temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to carry out atomic and molecular manipulation of chemical interactions for the discovery of novel nanostructures and properties. In effect, the goal is to carry out chemical changes by manipulating individual atoms and molecules to induce different bonding geometry and to create new interactions with their environment. These studies provide the scientific basis for the advancement of technology in catalysis, molecular electronics, optics, chemical and biological sensing, and magnetic storage.

This book describes the manipulation of molecular properties, such as orientation, structure, and dynamics, of small molecules and molecular clusters isolated in cold inert matrices by using unprecedentedly strong external electrostatic fields. Manipulation of molecules with controllable external forces is a dream of chemists. Molecules are inherently quantum-mechanical systems, control of which potentially can lead to quantum technology, such as quantum sensing and computing. This book demonstrates a combination of the ice film nanocapacitor method and the matrix isolation technique enabled the application of intense external dc electric fields across the isolated molecules and molecular clusters. Changes in molecular states induced by fields were monitored by means of vibrational spectroscopy. Also, the book presents manipulations of the inversion tunneling dynamics of ammonia molecule and the dislocation of acidic proton in hydrogen chloride–water complex. The book shows that the vibrational spectroscopy with the aid of unprecedentedly strong dc electric field can provide rich information on the electrostatic behaviors of molecules and molecular clusters, which underlie the understanding of intermolecular processes and molecular manipulation.

This Open Access book gives a comprehensive account of both the history and current achievements of molecular beam research. In 1919, Otto Stern launched the revolutionary molecular beam technique. This technique made it possible to send atoms and molecules with well-defined momentum through vacuum and to measure with high accuracy the deflections they underwent when acted upon by transversal forces. These measurements revealed unforeseen quantum properties of nuclei, atoms, and molecules that became the basis for our current understanding of quantum matter. This volume shows that many key areas of modern physics and chemistry owe their beginnings to the seminal molecular beam work of Otto Stern and his school. Written by internationally recognized experts, the contributions in this volume will help experienced researchers and incoming graduate students alike to keep abreast of current developments in molecular beam research as well as to appreciate the history and evolution of this powerful method and the knowledge it reveals.

This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Atomic and Molecular Wires". It was sponsored by the Ministry of Scientific Affairs Division special program on Nanoscale Science with the support of the CNRS and the Max Planck Institute. Scientists working or interested in the properties of wires at a subnanoscale were brought together in Les Houches (France) from 6 to 10 May 1996. Subnanoscale wires can be fabricated either by surface physicists (atomic wires) or by synthetic chemists (molecular wires). Both communities present their foremost advances using, for example, STM to assemble atomic lines atom for atom, to fabricate a mask for such a line or using the wide range of chemical synthesis techniques to obtain long, rigid and conjugated oligomers. Interconnecting such tiny wires to sources (voltage, current) continues to demand a great technological effort. But nanolithography associated with microfabrication or STM are now clearly identified paths for measuring the electrical resistance of an atomic or a molecular wire. The first measurements have been reported on Xe , benzene, C ' di(phenylene-ethynylene) showing 2 60 the need for a deeper understanding of transport phenomena through subnanowires. Such transport phenomena like tunnel (off-resonance) transport and Coulomb blockade have been discussed by theorists with an emphasis on the exponential decrease of the tunnel current with the wire length versus the ballistic regime of transport.