Abstract
Ultrathin insulating NaCl films have been employed to decouple individual pentacene molecules electronically from the metallic substrate. This allows the inherent electronic structure of the free molecule to be preserved and studied by means of low-temperature scanning-tunneling microscopy. Thereby direct images of the unperturbed molecular orbitals of the individual pentacene molecules are obtained. Elastic scattering quantum chemistry calculations substantiate the experimental findings.
- Received 23 September 2004
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.026803
©2005 American Physical Society
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This article appears in the following collection:
Scanning Probe Microscopy: From Sublime to Ubiquitous
This collection marks the 35th anniversary of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and the 30th anniversary of atomic force microscopy (AFM). These papers, all published in the Physical Review journals, highlight the positive impact that STM and AFM have had, and continue to have, on physical science research. The papers included in the collection have been made free to read.