Tuning interacting electron and phonon quantum states in molecular nanostructures via atomic manipulation

We investigate atomically precise nanostructures assembled from CO molecules on Cu(111) using a custom-built low-temperature ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The atomic manipulation capability of this instrument allows single molecule placement to desired locations, thus enabling the construction of nanostructures with \AA ngstrom level precision. We demonstrate the control of electronic and vibrational states within several quantum corral geometries, and investigate possible interactions between these two quantum degrees of freedom. Dependencies on corral shape and size are presented. $dI/dV$ spectroscopy reveals the ability to engineer the corral eigenstates with sub-meV accuracy. We also briefly discuss the design and performance specifications of our atomic manipulation STM which enable this class of experiments.