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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/M50171/01
Title: LASER-DRIVEN SCANNING TUNNELLING MICROSCOPY
Principal Investigator: Frey, Professor JG
Other Investigators:
Hayden, Professor BE Brocklesby, Dr WS
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Sch of Chemistry
Organisation: University of Southampton
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 October 1999 Ends: 31 March 2003 Value (£): 462,021
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Instrumentation Eng. & Dev. Lasers & Optics
Surfaces & Interfaces
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Chemicals Electronics
Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The project aims to develop several techniques of laser-driven scanning tunnelling microscopy. Previous studies have shown that surface vibrational modes show coupling to the tunnelling process, measured by the I-V characteristic of an STM, and also that non-linearities in the tunnelling junction can be used for optical frequency mixing. The combination of these two processes in the presence of a vibrational resonance of a surface species can be used to record surface vibrational spectra at atomic and molecular spatial resolution on surfaces. The non-linearity of the STM junction will be used to rectify and mix optical beams from a tunable IR laser system, detecting the resultant signals either through the STM tip or via the radiated RF energy.The ability to record spectra from the surface provides a radically different method of controlling the imaging in STM. In conventional STM the relationship between the image and the surface structure is complex. The recording of images at different laser wavelengths provides a much more definitive way to relate surface features to the underlying molecular or atomic constituents via, for example, the vibrational spectrum.
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Organisation Website: http://www.soton.ac.uk