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Abstract Nanoscale manipulation and characterization of individual molecules is necessary to understand the intricacies of molecular structure, which governs phenomena such as reaction mechanisms, catalysis, local effective temperatures, surface interactions, and charge transport. Here we utilize Raman enhancement between two nanostructured electrodes in combination with direct charge transport measurements to allow for simultaneous characterization of the electrical, optical, and mechanical properties of a single molecule. This multi‐dimensional information yields repeatable, self‐consistent, verification of single‐molecule resolution, and allows for detailed analysis of structural and configurational changes of the molecule in situ. These experimental results are supported by a machine‐learning based statistical analysis of the spectral information and calculations to provide insight into the correlation between structural changes in a single‐molecule and its charge‐transport properties. 

We propose engineering optical traps over plasmonic surfaces and precisely controlling the trap position with an external bias by inducing in-plane nonreciprocity on the surface. The platform employs an incident Gaussian beam to polarize targeted nanoparticles, and exploits the interplay between nonreciprocal and spin-orbit lateral recoil forces to construct stable optical traps and manipulate their position within the surface. To model this process, we develop a theoretical framework based on the Lorentz force combined with nonreciprocal Green’s functions and apply it to calculate the trapping potential. Rooted on this formalism, we explore the exciting possibilities offered by graphene to engineer stable optical traps using low-power laser beams in the mid-IR and to manipulate the trap position in a continuous manner by applying a longitudinal drift bias. Nonreciprocal metasurfaces may open new possibilities to trap, assemble and manipulate nanoparticles and overcome many challenges faced by conventional optical tweezers while dealing with nanoscale objects.