Control on a molecular scale: A perspective

Abstract

Imaging and manipulating objects down to the molecular level plays a crucial role in many disciplines. It allows to unravel molecular phenomena, to form materials with new chemical and physical properties, or to build objects on an atomic scale. Science on the nanoscale is inherently interdisciplinary. It requires knowledge and insight into many fields, spanning from modeling, measuring, imaging, actuation to control. Often feedback control facilitates operation with molecular precision, despite the fact that many physical phenomena at the molecular level are still not well understood, and that stochastic and nonlinear effects are inherently present. This work provides an insight into some of the current control related research activities on a molecular scale. This is done considering examples from different fields: control related to scanning probe microscopy such as atomic force microscopy, controlled self assembly on a molecular scale, control aspects of molecular transport, and the use of control for manipulation of single molecules using macroscopic probe tips. The hope is that control related researchers, who are not experts in these fields, become aware of the opportunities present, which could also drive new theoretical developments.