Visualizing vibrational normal modes of a single molecule with atomically confined light
@article{Lee2019VisualizingVN, title={Visualizing vibrational normal modes of a single molecule with atomically confined light}, author={Joonhee Lee and Kevin T. Crampton and Nicholas Ryan Tallarida and Vartkess Ara Apkarian}, journal={Nature}, year={2019}, volume={568}, pages={78-82} }
The internal vibrations of molecules drive the structural transformations that underpin chemistry and cellular function. While vibrational frequencies are measured by spectroscopy, the normal modes of motion are inferred through theory because their visualization would require microscopy with ångström-scale spatial resolution—nearly three orders of magnitude smaller than the diffraction limit in optics1. Using a metallic tip to focus light and taking advantage of the surface-enhanced Raman…
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