The adsorption of a molecular electron donor on Au(111) is characterized by the spontaneous formation of a superlattice of monomers spaced several nanometers apart. The coverage-dependent molecular pair distributions obtained from scanning tunneling microscopy data reveal an intermolecular long-range repulsive potential, which decreases as the inverse of the molecular separation. Density functional theory calculations show a charge accumulation in the molecules due to electron donation into the metal. Our results suggest that electrostatic repulsion between molecules persists on the surface of a metal.

An electronic friction approach based on Langevin dynamics is used to describe the multidimensional (six-dimensional) dynamics of femtosecond laser induced desorption of H(2) and D(2) from a H(D)-covered Ru(0001) surface. The paper extends previous reduced-dimensional models, using a similar approach. In the present treatment forces and frictional coefficients are calculated from periodic density functional theory (DFT) and essentially parameter-free, while the action of femtosecond laser pulses on the metal surface is treated by using the two-temperature model. Our calculations shed light on the performance and validity of various adiabatic, non-adiabatic, and Arrhenius/Kramers type kinetic models to describe hot-electron mediated photoreactions at metal surfaces. The multidimensional frictional dynamics are able to reproduce and explain known experimental facts, such as strong isotope effects, scaling of properties with laser fluence, and non-equipartitioning of vibrational, rotational, and translational energies of desorbing species. Further, detailed predictions regarding translations are made, and the question for the controllability of photoreactions at surfaces with the help of vibrational preexcitation is addressed.

Some time ago, it has been observed that vibrationally highly excited NO͑v͒ molecules ͑with typical vibrational quantum numbers v Ϸ 15͒ lose substantial amounts of vibrational energy when scattering off a Au͑111͒ surface ͓H. Huang, C. Rettner, D. Auerbach, and A. Wodtke, Science 290, 111 ͑2000͔͒. This has been interpreted as a sign for the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation due to vibration-electron coupling. It has been argued that this process cannot be understood on the basis of single-quantum transitions which are typical for "electronic friction" models based on a perturbative treatment of weak vibration-electron couplings. Rather, multiple-quanta transitions characteristic for strong nonadiabatic effects are needed according to recent classical surface hopping calculations involving multiple potential-energy surfaces and model Hamiltonians ͓N. Shenvi, S. Roy, and J. C. Tully, Science 326, 829 ͑2009͔͒. Here we address the importance and magnitude of electronic friction for NO@ Au͑111͒ by using fully quantum-mechanical, parameter-free first-principles theories in reduced dimensions. Periodic density-functional theory calculations are performed to obtain a ground-state potential-energy surface along the desorption and NO-vibration coordinates, and coordinate-resolved, finite NO vibrational lifetimes due to vibration-electron coupling. Using this input, the scattering event is modeled by open-system density-matrix theory in the frame of the coupled-channel-densitymatrix method, which allows for the inclusion of energy relaxation of the scattering NO molecules. It is found that within this model at least, electronic friction accounts for the observed vibrational deactivation of NO scattering from gold.

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the modulation of surface charge transfer on the tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)/Au(111) interface as a function of coverage in the submonolayer regime by combining low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The modulation is induced by the competition between long-range repulsive Coulombic interactions and short-range attractive hydrogen-bonding interactions. The system shows the characteristic pattern evolution, from monomeric stripes at low coverages to two-dimensional islands, with the formation of labyrinths in the crossover.