Virtual reality visual feedback for hand-controlled scanning probe microscopy manipulation of single molecules

• Philipp Leinen,
• Matthew F. B. Green,
• Taner Esat,
• Christian Wagner,
• F. Stefan Tautz and
• Ruslan Temirov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2148–2153, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.220

• environment is not fully known. Here we present a further technical development that substantially improves the effectiveness of HCM. By adding Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles to our HCM set-up we provide the experimentalist with 3D visual feedback that displays the currently executed trajectory and the

• advantages of the set-up are demonstrated by applying it to the model problem of the extraction of an individual PTCDA molecule from its hydrogen-bonded monolayer grown on Ag(111) surface. Keywords: non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM); Oculus Rift; perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride

• trajectory data should therefore greatly increase the effectiveness of HCM and extend the range of its possible applications. Here we introduce a system that visualizes HCM data in real time by displaying the actual tip position as well as the history of its movements in 3D using Oculus Rift DK 2 (ORt