title: Atomic-resolution three-dimensional force and damping maps of carbon nanotube peapods.
abstract: Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become a versatile and powerful method for imaging both insulating and conducting objects down to the atomic scale. By extending the high spatial resolution and sensitivity of AFM to the force spectroscopy dimension, oscillations of individual molecules can be studied with atomic resolution. Using three-dimensional mapping of the force and damping fields we address individual Dy@C(82) metallofullerene molecules confined inside single-walled carbon nanotubes (so-called metallofullerene peapods) and reveal their oscillatory behaviour via attractive interactions with the AFM probe tip. The damping energy DeltaE signals, generated in very close proximity of the tip and nanotube peapod, show a close relationship with hysteresis in the short-range forces, thereby indicating that a soft vibrational (phonon) mode is site-specifically (i.e., atom-by-atom) induced by the AFM tip.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics and Microstructure Research Centre, University of Hamburg, Jungiusstrasse 11, 20355 Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashino
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Obergfell
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haluska
authors.forename: Shihe
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Andrei N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Khlobystov
authors.forename: Siegmar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wiesendanger