Adsorbate motions induced by vibrational mode coupling

Abstract

Adsorbate motions are discussed with a primary attention focused on the coupling between a vibrational mode excited by ultrafast laser heated hot-electrons or by inelastic tunneling electrons with scanning tunneling microscope and the reaction coordinate (RC) mode. Recent experimental results have demonstrated an efficient reaction pathways involving an indirect excitation of a frustrated translational mode, rather than its direct excitation for adsorbate hopping on surfaces. Elementary processes are briefly described for hopping of CO molecules on a laser heated stepped Pt surface, where excitation of the frustrated rotation mode has been found to plays an indispensable. Calculation of the inelastic tunneling current (ITC) for excitation of the C–O stretch mode of a CO molecule is combined with a theory of anharmonic mode coupling to activate the frustrated translation mode above the barrier. The hopping rate as a function of the bias voltage agrees with the experimental result. An unified theory of single-, and two-electron processes for ITC-induced motions induced by an indirect excitation of the RC-mode via mode coupling is also applied to reproduce a crossover from hopping to desorption of a single NH 3 molecule on Cu(1 0 0) with an increase in the tunneling current.