A scanning tunneling microscope as a tunable nanoantenna for atomic scale control of optical-field enhancement

Nano Lett. 2010 Oct 13;10(10):3857-62. doi: 10.1021/nl101246z.

Abstract

The high stability of a low temperature (9 K) scanning tunneling microscope junction is used to precisely adjust the enhancement of an external pulsed vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) laser. The ensuing VUV optical-field strength is mapped on an hydrogenated Si(100) surface by imprinting locally one-photon atomic scale hydrogen desorption. Subsequent to irradiation, topography of the Si(100):H surface at the reacted area revealed a desorption spot with unprecedented atomic precision. Our results show that the shapes, positions, and sizes of the desorption spots are correlated to the calculated optical-field structure, offering real control of the optical-field distribution at molecular scale.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't