The capability to selectively excite atomic vibrations is crucial to driving and controlling chemistry at the single molecule level. A key parameter to driving vibrations in a molecule is the wavelength of the exciting laser. Until date, rapid re-distribution of excitation energy among various vibration modes made selective excitation very difficult in a complex molecule. By placing a single molecule in an ultralow temperature cavity, the re-distribution of excitation energy in the molecule can be significantly decelerated; enabling researchers from Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF Stuttgart) and University of Madrid to selective excite vibrations in single complex molecule.
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