FWF - Chemical Dynamics - Ultrafast Chemical Dynamics

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

The formation and breaking of chemical bonds are the most fundamental steps in chemical reactions. Studying the quantum dynamics that underlie these processes in real time is thus of great interest for physics, chemistry and many other fields of research. The aim of the proposed experiments is to gain a deeper understanding of dynamic processes in molecules from a novel perspective. The project will push the method of tabletop femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy into new territories, utilizing probe pulses in the soft Xray regime with photon energies beyond 100 eV. Femtosecond Xray pulses will be generated by highharmonic generation. The novel method combines the advantages of Xray absorption spectroscopy and femtosecond pumpprobe spectroscopy. Transitions involving corelevel electrons enable the study of electronic and nuclear dynamics with elementspecificity and sensitivity to local valence electronic structures. In the proposed experiments highorder harmonic probe pulses with photon energies up to 180 eV will provide access to the sulfur 2p edge, facilitating the study of the chemistry of sulfurcontaining compounds. The temporal evolution of the molecular valence electronic structures will be monitored in realtime and from the perspective of distinct reporter atoms. Experiments in Berkeley and Graz will probe spinorbit and vibrational wave packets in neutral and strongfield ionized carbon disulfide as well as the photoinduced breaking of the SC bond in cyclic thiophene molecules (ringopening reaction), which is of particular relevance for energy related technologies. Especially, the introduction of wellcontrolled ultraviolet (UV) excitations is an important next step in the field of femtosecond Xray transient absorption spectroscopy, which will facilitate the investigation of many naturally occurring photochemical processes triggered by UV sunlight under controlled conditions. Exploring the most fundamental mechanisms in nature is the basis for understanding complex systems and their timedependent behavior. The development of novel methods for the study of ultrafast photoinitiated molecular dynamics will create new opportunities to unravel key processes in physics, chemistry, life sciences, material science as well as environment and energy related technologies.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date20/10/1419/06/17

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