CC BY 3.0 UnportedReitsma, G.Hummert, J.Dura, J.Loriot, V.Vrakking, M.J.J.Lépine, F.Kornilov, O.2021-11-182021-11-182020https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/7344https://doi.org/10.34657/6391The efficiency of energy transfer in ultrafast electronic relaxation of molecules depends strongly on the complex interplay between electronic and nuclear motion. In this study we use wavelength-selected XUV pulses to induce relaxation dynamics of highly excited cationic states of naphthalene. Surprisingly, the observed relaxation lifetimes increase with the cationic excitation energy. We propose that this is a manifestation of a quantum mechanical population trapping that leads to delayed relaxation of molecules in the regions with a high density of excited states. © 2019 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.enghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/530energy transferelectronic relaxation of moleculescationic excitation energyArticle