  A scheme of the scanning rotational microscope is designed. This scheme is
based on using carbon nanotubes simultaneously as a probe tip and as a bolt/nut
pair which converts translational displacements of two piezo actuators into
pure rotation of the probe tip. First-principles calculations of the
interaction energy between movable and rotational parts of the microscope
confirms the capability for its operation. The scanning rotational microscope
with a chemically functionalized nanotube-based tip can be used to study how
the interaction between individual molecules or a molecule and a surface
depends on their relative orientation.
