Viewing Optical Processes at the Nanoscale: Combining Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Optical Spectroscopy

Abstract

The combination of optical spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy techniques has the potential to yield the unambiguous single-molecule level insight required to fully understand the complex structure-property relationship of emerging material systems. In this Perspective, we highlight the recent progress of single-molecule absorption detected by scanning tunneling microscopy (SMA-STM) to investigate light-matter interactions of supported (nano)particles, quantum dots, and molecular and thin films at the nanoscale. We further show how the SMA-STM technique has been recently extended to expand the classes of materials that can be investigated as well as recent design modifications that enable both time-resolved imaging and tomography. Lastly, we hypothesize how these modifications can be further leveraged to advance our current knowledge of light-matter interactions and how the resulting nanoscale insight can be implemented for future material applications.