Nonlocal Manipulation With the Scanning Tunneling Microscope

This article presents a review of nonlocal manipulation with the scanning tunneling microscope. We present manipulation of atomic and molecular adsorbates on a range of different surfaces induced either by the intense electric field between the tip and the sample or by the tunneling electrons. We review reports of electron-induced nonlocal manipulation on surfaces such as Au(111), which qualitatively describe the nonlocal effect but without concrete conclusions as to the electron transport process. To unravel and quantify the precise mechanism of manipulation, we concentrate specifically on the case of nonlocal displacement of aromatic molecules on Si(111)-7x7. We show that nonlocal manipulation in this case is a consequence of the lateral transport of hot electrons across the surface as they diffuse away from the initial injection site. In this sense, nonlocal manipulation is a manifestation in real space of the ultrafast dynamics of hot surface charge carriers.