The use of a highly localized plasmonic field has enabled us to achieve sub-nanometer resolution of Raman images for single molecules. The inhomogeneous spatial distribution of plasmonic field has become an important factor that controls the interaction between the light and the molecule. We present here a gauge invariant interaction Hamiltonian (GIIH) to take into account the nonuniformity of the electromagnetic field distribution in the non-relativistic regime. The theory has been implemented for both resonant and nonresonant Raman processes within the sum-over-state framework. It removes the gauge origin dependence in the phenomenologically modified interaction Hamiltonian (PMIH) employed in previous studies. Our calculations show that, in most resonant cases, the Raman images from GIIH are similar to those from PMIH when the origin is set to the nuclear charge center of the molecule. In the case of nonresonant Raman images, distinct differences can be found from two different approaches, while GIIH calculations provide more details and phase information of the images. Furthermore, the results from GIIH calculations are more stable with respect to the computational parameters. Our results not only help to correctly simulate the resonant and nonresonant Raman images of single molecules but also lay the foundation for developing gauge invariant theory for other linear and nonlinear optical processes under the excitation of non-uniform electromagnetic field. Published by AIP Publishing.

The switchable trans-cis isomerization of azobenzene (AB) and its derivatives on metallic surfaces has offered rich possibilities to functionalize molecular devices. However, the lack of good understanding on isomerization pathway has severely limited our ability for rational design. One of long debated issues is the cis configuration of parental AB on Au(111) surface, for which the experimentally inferred structure differs from the theoretically predicted global minimum. Here, we theoretically predict a new in-situ metastable configuration for cis-AB on Au(111) that can reproduce the observations reported in the scanning tunneling microscopy experiments. The calculated potential energy surface indicates that the stability of the newly discovered cis-AB isomer is kinetically much superior than that of the cis global minimum, which well explains the bistability of AB on Au(111) surface. Accordingly, we reveal a fascinating tumbling pathway that overcomes two energy barriers stimulated by tunneling electrons for the trans-cis AB isomerization on Au(111), suggesting a new type of molecular motor based on the AB systems.

With a highly localized plasmonic field, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) images have reached atomic-scale resolution, providing an optical means to explore the structure of a single molecule. We have applied the recently developed theoretical method to simulate the TERS images of trans and cis azobenzene as well as its derivatives on Au(111). Our theoretical results reveal that when the first excited state is resonantly excited, TERS images from a highly confined plasmonic field can effectively distinguish the isomer configurations of the adsorbates. The decay of the plasmonic field along the surface normal can be further used to distinguish different nonplanar cis configurations. Moreover, subtle characteristics of different molecular configurations can also be identified from the TERS images of other resonant excited states with a super-high confined plasmonic field. These findings serve as good references for future TERS experiments on molecular isomers.

The long-range charge-transfer states in a donor-acceptor system exhibit well separated electron-hole pairs, but are often difficult to achieve by optical means owing to a very small overlap between the wave functions of the donor and acceptor. We have found that the introduction of a spatially confined plasmon can enhance the transition probability to the long-range charge-transfer states as it can effectively break the intrinsic symmetry selection rule imposed on the system. Meanwhile, the intensity borrowed from local excitations could also be selectively promoted, allowing the manipulation of the excited quantum states. In addition, our calculations reveal that the donor and acceptor moieties can be unambiguously visualized in real space by tip-enhanced resonance Raman images. These findings can benefit light-harvesting and also be readily extended to diverse optical processes.

Inner proton transfer between two trans isomers (tautomerization) in porphyrins plays a crucial role in many biological systems as well as molecular nanotechnology. Although the stepwise mechanism of tautomerization is well accepted, the involved intermediate cis-isomer has not been directly detected owing to its short lifetime and the extremely low intensities of corresponding hydrogen vibrations. Here, taking a single porphine as the prototype, we theoretically demonstrate that Raman intensities of the hydrogen vibrations become accessible under the highly localized plasmonic field because of the symmetry breaking effect. In addition, with the ultrafast incident excitations, we find that Raman signals of cis-porphine could be distinguished from the stable trans isomer, suggesting a general protocol for the direct characterization of transient isomers. Moreover, calculated results reveal that the position of inner hydrogen/deuterium can be unambiguously visualized from Raman images of the corresponding stretching modes, providing a unique optical means for the chemical monitoring of tautomerization in porphine and its derivatives.