Single-Molecule Infrared Spectroscopy with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Probing vibrations at single-molecule level is essential for achieving bond-specific chemical control in realistic heterogeneous environments. Here, we introduce a new measurement scheme integrating frequency-tunable infrared excitation with scanning tunneling microscopy to characterize vibration-mediated nuclear motions of single molecules. We first validated the technique by monitoring the infrared-induced rotation of the ethynyl radical and then applied it to mapping pyrrolidine’s conformational dynamics. The resulting broadband spectra captured fundamental vibrational modes together with rich overtone and combination bands inaccessible by conventional methods, confirmed with isotopic substitutions. Density functional theory calculations showed that delocalized modes coupled with pyrrolidine ring puckering drive the structural transition, revealing altered selection rules compared to traditional infrared spectroscopy. This new experimental platform enables probing of molecular vibrations and transformations with atomic precision.

Speaker: Shaowei Li, UC San Diego