Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Item
    Excited-state relaxation of hydrated thymine and thymidine measured by liquid-jet photoelectron spectroscopy: experiment and simulation
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2015) Buchner, Franziska; Nakayama, Akira; Yamazaki, Shohei; Ritze, Hans-Hermann; Lübcke, Andrea
    Time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is performed on thymine and thymidine in aqueous solution to study the excited-state relaxation dynamics of these molecules. We find two contributions with sub-ps lifetimes in line with recent excited-state QM/MM molecular dynamics simulations (J. Chem. Phys.2013, 139, 214304). The temporal evolution of ionization energies for the excited ππ* state along the QM/MM molecular dynamics trajectories were calculated and are compatible with experimental results, where the two contributions correspond to the relaxation paths in the ππ* state involving different conical intersections with the ground state. Theoretical calculations also show that ionization from the nπ* state is possible at the given photon energies, but we have not found any experimental indication for signal from the nπ* state. In contrast to currently accepted relaxation mechanisms, we suggest that the nπ* state is not involved in the relaxation process of thymine in aqueous solution.
  • Item
    X-ray imaging of chemically active valence electrons during a pericyclic reaction
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2014) Bredtmann, T.; Ivanov, M.; Dixit, G.
    Time-resolved imaging of chemically active valence electron densities is a long-sought goal, as these electrons dictate the course of chemical reactions. However, X-ray scattering is always dominated by the core and inert valence electrons, making time-resolved X-ray imaging of chemically active valence electron densities extremely challenging. Here we demonstrate an effective and robust method, which emphasizes the information encoded in weakly scattered photons, to image chemically active valence electron densities. The degenerate Cope rearrangement of semibullvalene, a pericyclic reaction, is used as an example to visually illustrate our approach. Our work also provides experimental access to the long-standing problem of synchronous versus asynchronous bond formation and breaking during pericyclic reactions.
  • Item
    Two-color two-dimensional terahertz spectroscopy: A new approach for exploring even-order nonlinearities in the nonperturbative regime
    (Melville, NY : American Institute of Physics, 2021) Woerner, Michael; Ghalgaoui, Ahmed; Reimann, Klaus; Elsaesser, Thomas
    Nonlinear two-dimensional terahertz (2D-THz) spectroscopy at frequencies of the emitted THz signal different from the driving frequencies allows for exploring the regime of (off-)resonant even-order nonlinearities in condensed matter. To demonstrate the potential of this method, we study two phenomena in the nonlinear THz response of bulk GaAs: (i) The nonlinear THz response to a pair of femtosecond near-infrared pulses unravels novel fourth- and sixth-order contributions involving interband shift currents, Raman-like excitations of transverse-optical phonon and intervalence-band coherences. (ii) Transient interband tunneling of electrons driven by ultrashort mid-infrared pulses can be effectively controlled by a low-frequency THz field with amplitudes below 50 kV/cm. The THz field controls the electron–hole separation modifying decoherence and the irreversibility of carrier generation.