Mapping the intramolecular contributions to the inelastic electron tunneling signal of a molecular junction

Abstract

We present a quantitative analysis of the intramolecular origin of the inelastic electron tunneling signal of a molecular junction. We use density-functional theory to study a representative conjugated molecule with a low degree of symmetry and calculate, for all modes, the different contributions that give rise to the vibrational spectrum. These local contributions involve products of scattering states with electron-phonon matrix elements and thus encode information on both the vibrational modes and the electronic structure. We separate these intra- and interatomic terms and draw a pattern of addition or cancellation of these partial contributions throughout the inelastic spectrum. This allows for a quantitative relation between the degree of symmetry of each vibrational mode, its inelastic signal, and the locality of selection rules.