Optical manipulation of ultrafast electron and nuclear motion on metal surfaces

Abstract

We study the unoccupied electronic structure and dynamics of chemisorbed atoms and molecules on metal surfaces by time resolved two-photon photoemission (TR-2PP). spectroscopy, low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM), and theory. Our research concerns simple atomic adsorbates such as alkali and alkaline earth atoms, which provide fundamentally important models for adsorbate-surface interactions, and more complex adsorbates such as fullerenes on noble metals, which illustrate emergent interfacial properties that derive from intrinsic molecular attributes, and moleculemolecule and molecule-surface interactions. Our goal is to understand how these interactions contribute to formation of the interfacial electronic structure, and how thus formed electronic properties affect interfacial phenomena of importance to energy transduction and storage. Moreover, we explore how the interfacial electronic excitation drives dynamical phenomena such as charge transfer and surface femtochemistry.