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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization
Published on: August 6, 2018
Diatomic molecular switches to enable the observation of very-low-energy vibrations
Marina Pivetta1, Markus Ternes, François Patthey
1Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Institut de Physique des Nanostructures, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we found that the coadsorption of atomic hydrogen to single transition-metal and rare-earth-metal atoms on a Ag(100) surface gives rise to surprising phenomena, a bias dependent switching from a large to a small apparent size of the diatomic molecules and a concomitant appearance of very low-energy vibrational features of 3 to 7 meV in the differential conductance spectra. These phenomena, which have until now escaped observation, may be of general relevance for low-temperature adsorption.
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