Vibrational Frequency Used as Internal Clock Reference to Access Molecule-Metal Charge-Transfer Times

Dynamical charge transfer processes at molecule-metal interfaces proceed in the few fs timescale that renders them highly relevant to electronic excitations in optoelectronic devices. Yet, knowledge thereof is limited when electronic ground state situations are considered that implicate charge transfer directly at the fermi energy. Here we show that such processes can be accessed by means of vibrational excitations, with nonadiabatic electron-vibron coupling leading to distinct asymmetric line shapes. Thereby the characteristic timescale of this interfacial dynamical charge transfer can be derived by using the vibrational oscillation period as an internal clock reference.