STM Laboratory

Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM)

Low-temeprature scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) operating at liquid helium temperature allow imaging of conducting surfaces and adsorbates with atomic resolution. In sufficiently stable system it is often possible to resolve internal structure of molecules. With the tip of the STM it is possible to controllably manipulate individual atoms and molecules and therefore gradually build various nanostructures. STM can also be used to perform electronic and vibrational spectroscopy which can be applied to determine chemical identity of the adsorbate and to measure electronic properties of nanostructures. Finally, the junction between the tip of the microscope and the sample can be considered as a tiny chemical "reactor" in which chemical bonds can be split and created. This permits to perform chemical reactions with individual molecules. Ultra-high vacuum low-temperature STM that we have constructed and built at the Condensed matter physics department has successfully underwent first tests and it is now being optimized, so that its characteristics will satisfy the stringent requirements for the experiments that we have in plans.