title: Bond breaking coupled with translation in rolling of covalently bound molecules.
abstract: The response of a C60 molecule to manipulation across a surface displays a long range periodicity which corresponds to a rolling motion. A period of three or four lattice constants is observed and is accompanied by complex subharmonic structure due to molecular hops through a regular, repeating sequence of adsorption states. Combining experimental data and ab initio calculations, we show that this response corresponds to a rolling motion in which two of the four Si-C60 covalent bonds act as a pivot over which the molecule rotates while moving through one lattice constant and identify a sequence of C60 bonding configurations that accounts for the periodic structure.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Keeling
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Humphry
authors.forename: R H J
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Fawcett
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Beton
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hobbs
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kantorovich