Physics Colloquium: An Insight into Single-Molecule Processes via Nanoimaging and Nanospectroscopy

Thursday, November 17, 2016

3:30 PM-4:30 PM

Nan Jiang, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago

This talk explores a new path forward toward the goal of probing single-molecule processes via Nanoimaging and Nanospectroscopy. The combination of scanning tunneling microscopy imaging and optical spectroscopy will be discussed as a means to raise both the spatial and spectral resolution of molecules to an unprecedented level. At the beginning of this lecture, I will show how imaging with sub-molecular resolution has been achieved by either inserting buffer layer under the molecules or modifying the scanning probes. Then, I will on recent advances in a new nanoscale vibrational spectroscopy (tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy): quantitatively identifying multiple vibrational modes of large polyatomic molecular adsorbates with molecular resolution imaging, understanding the interaction between adsorbates and the surface with intramolecular vibrational distribution, and studying a dynamic molecular phase boundary on a Ag tip-Ag(100) system. This topic presents new opportunities for the fundamental studies at the heart of photovoltaic, photosynthetic, and photocatalytic processes.

Contact Information

Professor Goran Karapetrov
goran@drexel.edu