Elucidation of vibration energy of a single molecule in an external force field

The vibration of a molecule on a surface contains critical information on the molecule-surface interaction, crucial for understanding surface phenomena and for important processes like catalysis. It was previously investigated with a scanning probe microscopy, but the probe tip appeared to exert a force on the molecule, affecting the vibration. Here, by combining STM, AFM and model calculations, the experimental results were precisely reproduced; the molecule-surface interactions were weakened by the probe tip proximity.