Vibrational Excitation Mechanism in Tunneling Spectroscopy beyond the Franck-Condon Model

Abstract

Vibronic spectra of molecules are typically described within the Franck-Condon model. Here, we show that highly resolved vibronic spectra of large organic molecules on a single layer of MoS2 on Au(111) show spatial variations in their intensities, which cannot be captured within this picture. We explain that vibrationally mediated perturbations of the molecular wave functions need to be included into the Franck-Condon model. Our simple model calculations reproduce the experimental spectra at arbitrary position of the scanning tunneling microscope’s tip over the molecule in great detail.