The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters · 2017 · 11 citations · 21 references
Natural SciencesChemistryPhysicsCondensed Matter PhysicsPhysical ChemistrySurface ScienceCondensed Matter SimulationsMolecular InteractionsMolecular SimulationScanning Probe MicroscopyStates Of MatterSurface PhysicsAtomic-scale Surface ImagingChemical Structure VisualizationKinetic Monte CarloKinetic Monte Carlo ModelingKinetic Monte Carlo SimulationMolecular Structure VisualizationPair Correlation FunctionsReciprocal Space
The state of matter in fluid phases, determined by the interactions between particles, can be characterized by a pair correlation function (PCF). At the nanoscale, the PCF has been so far obtained experimentally only by means of reciprocal-space techniques. We use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at room temperature in combination with lattice-gas kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations to study a two-dimensional gas of highly mobile molecules of fluorinated copper phthalocyanine on a Si(111)/Tl-(1×1) surface. A relatively slow mechanism of STM image acquisition results in time-averaging of molecular occurrence under the STM tip. We prove by the KMC simulations that in the proximity of fixed molecules STM images represent the PCF. We demonstrate that STM is capable of visualizing directly the pair correlation function in real space.
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An Atomic-Level View of Melting Using Femtosecond Electron Diffraction
Bradley J. Siwick, Jason R. Dwyer, Robert E. Jordan et al. · Science · 2003 · 926 citations