Rostock 2019 – scientific programme

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AKjDPG: Arbeitskreis junge DPG

AKjDPG 2: Tutorial Molecular Spectroscopy (joint session AKjDPG/MO)

AKjDPG 2.1: Tutorial

Sunday, March 10, 2019, 16:00–17:00, U HS 224

How Ultrafast Spectroscopy Can Follow Molecular Reaction Dynamics in Real Time — •Patrick Nuernberger — Physikalische Chemie II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum

Physicists and chemists are usually very familiar with absorption spectrometers. The obtained spectra provide information on energy levels and further properties of the substance at hand. Whereas one directly determines which photon is absorbed and how well, some of the most interesting information is not accessible in this way: what happens directly after the photon has interacted with the molecules?

Quite intuitively, one needs to measure at a later time to find out. Instead of looking only at the reaction’s start and finish, a comprehensive approach has to follow the dynamics in real time in order to identify intermediates and decipher the underlying reaction mechanisms. For this, laser pulses in the femtosecond range are required, since photophysical processes and photochemical reactions (where bonds are cleaved and formed) may occur on an ultrafast time scale.

In this tutorial, the basics of ultrafast molecular spectroscopy are introduced. Different experimental implementations and the applicability to systems ranging from diatomic molecules to large biosystems are discussed. Two versatile approaches, transient absorption and coherent two-dimensional spectroscopy, are analyzed in detail with illustrative examples.