Ultrafast infrared near-field molecular nano-spectroscopy

Abstract

We demonstrate molecular radiative infrared vibrational free-induction decay on the nano-scale and its control via near-field coupling between the transient molecular polarization and optical antenna properties of the metallic scanning near-field probe tip. This allows for pushing the sensitivity of infrared vibrational spectroscopy into the single molecule regime. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.