Visible laser light (442 nm) irradiation created an atomic-scale structure on a rutile TiO2 (110)-(1 x 1) surface. The created bright structure, shaped like a bow tie, had an appearance of connecting two neighboring Ti [001] rows. The structure also showed dark areas in its front and in its back. The structure was interpreted as an oxygen deficiency on the (1 x 1) surface, and one of the dark spots around the structure as the oxygen atom displaced from its original position. The structure often appeared as a pair aligned along [110] direction, which could be viewed as a local (2 x 3) structure. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.