Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Cover Picture (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 4/1993)

The cover picture shows a spectral “landscape” made from the fluorescence excitation spectra of single perylene molecules in a polyethylene film. Each “mountain” represents the fluorescence from one molecule. To paint this landscape the probing laser must scan the frequency (6.1 GHz range, along the axis from the lower right to the upper left) and travel across the sample (23 μm, along the perpendicular axis). This type of picture is one of the results of recent spectacular advances in the characterization of single molecules by optical spectroscopy. Many chemists certainly dream of examining individual molecules each in their specific environment. More of this fascinating area of research is described by W. E. Moerner and T. Basché, p. 457 ff.

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