TY - JOUR A1 - Mielke, Johannes A1 - Martınez-Blanco, J. A1 - Peters, M. V. A1 - Hecht, S. A1 - Grill, L. T1 - Observing single-atom diffusion at a molecule-metal interface JF - Physical Review B N2 - The dynamics at the interface between a close-packed porphyrin monolayer and Au(111) is investigated by time-dependent scanning tunneling microscopy, detecting the motion of single-interface adatoms in real space. Imaging sequences reveal predominant switching of the molecular appearance in adjacent molecules, pointing to a spatial correlation that is consistent with adatom diffusion from one molecule to the next. In some cases, the number of switching molecules is drastically increased, indicating collective switching events. In addition to the thermally induced motion of adatoms at the interface, also voltage pulses from the microscope tip can induce the process—revealing different yields in agreement with the model of adatom hopping. KW - STM KW - molecular switch KW - single molecule KW - switching dynamics KW - porphyrin KW - Au(111) PY - 2016 UR - http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.035416 DO - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.035416 VL - 94 IS - 3 SP - 035416-1 EP - 035416-7 PB - American Physical Society AN - OPUS4-37177 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -