Abstract
Light emission from the M-type enantiomer of a helicene derivative (2,13-bis(hydroxymethyl)[7]-thiaheterohelicene) adsorbed on the clean Au(111) and the C(60)-covered Au(111) surfaces were investigated by tunneling-current-induced light-emission technique. Plasmon-originated light emission was observed on the helicence/Au(111) surface and it was strongly suppressed on the area where the helicene molecules were adsorbed at the edges of the Au(111) terraces. To avoid luminescence quenching of excited helicene molecules and to suppress strong plasmon light emission from the Au(111) surface, C(60) layers were used as decoupling buffer layers between helicene molecules and the Au(111) surface. Helicene molecules were adsorbed preferentially on the Au(111) surface rather than on the C(60) buffer layers due to the small interaction of the molecules and C(60) islands. This fact motivated us to deposit a multilayer of helicene molecules onto the C(60) layers grown on the Au(111) surface, leading to the fact that the helicene/C(60) multilayer showed strong luminescence with the molecules character. We consider that such strong light emission from the multilayer of helicene molecules has a plasmon origin strongly modulated by the molecular electronic states of (M)-[7]TH-diol molecules.