Physics Commons^™

Simultaneous Measurements Of Electronic Conduction And Raman Response In Molecular Junctions, Daniel R. Ward, Naomi J. Halas, James M. Tour, Jacob W. Ciszek, Yanpeng Wu, Peter Nordlander, Douglas Natelson

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Electronic conduction through single molecules is affected by the molecular electronic structure as well as by other information that is extremely difficult to assess, such as bonding geometry and chemical environment. The lack of an independent diagnostic technique has long hampered single-molecule conductance studies. We report simultaneous measurement of the conductance and the Raman spectra of nanoscale junctions used for single-molecule electronic experiments. Blinking and spectral diffusion in the Raman response of both para-mercaptoaniline and a fluorinated oligophenylyne ethynylene correlate in time with changes in the electronic conductance. Finite difference time domain calculations confirm that these correlations do not result …