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Updated: May 3, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
One-way rotation of a molecule-rotor driven by a shot noise
Jorge Echeverria1, Serge Monturet, Christian Joachim
1Nanosciences Group & MANA Satellite, CEMES/CNRS, 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France. jorge.echeverria-lopez@cemes.fr.
Abstract:
The shot noise of a tunneling current passing through a molecule-motor can sustain a one-way rotation when populating the molecular excited states by tunneling inelastic excitations. We demonstrate that a ratchet-like ground state rotation potential energy curve is not necessary for the rotation to occur. A relative shift in energy difference between the maxima of this ground state and the minima of the excited states is the necessary condition to get to a unidirectional rotation. The rotor speed of rotation and its rotation direction are both controlled by this shift, indicating the necessity of a careful design of both the ground and excited states of the next generation of molecule-motors to be able to generate a motive power at the nanoscale.
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