Localized vibrons in a molecular nano-structure adsorbed on a vicinal surface

The vibron dynamics in a molecular monolayer adsorbed on a vicinal surface is considered to analyze the influence of the steps on the coherent vibrational energy transfer. The singularity of the internal dynamics of the molecules adsorbed close to the steps is shown to be responsible for the occurrence of quasi-localized vibrons. Discussing first the localization transition in terms of renormalization group theory, the implication of quasi-localized vibrons on the energy transfer is then studied. Two situations are analyzed depending on whether a terrace molecule or a step molecule are excited and it is shown that localization can be used as a mean to propagate vibrational energy along a single direction parallel to the steps.