•Daniel Boese^1,2 und Herbert Schoeller^2,1
1Inst. für Theo. Festkörperphysik, Univ. Karlsruhe
²Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Inst. für Nanotechnologie

We describe single electron tunneling through molecular structures under the influence of nano-mechanical excitations. We develop a full quantum mechanical model, which includes charging effects and dissipation, and apply it to the vibrating C₆₀ single electron transistor experiment by Park et al. [Nature 407, 57 (2000)]. We find good agreement and argue vibrations to be essential to molecular electronic systems. We propose a mechanism to realize negative differential conductance using local bosonic excitations.