Pumping and probing vibrational modulated coupled electronic coherence in HCN using short UV fs laser pulses: a 2D quantum nuclear dynamical study.

The coupled electronic-nuclear coherent dynamics induced by a short strong VUV fs pulse in the low excited electronic states of HCN is probed by transient absorption spectroscopy with a second weaker fs UV pulse. The nuclear time-dependent Schrodinger equation is solved on a 2D nuclear grid with several electronic states with a Hamiltonian including the dipole coupling to the pump and the probe electric fields. The two internal nuclear coordinates describe the motion of the light H atom. There is a band of several excited electronic states at about 8 eV above the ground state (GS) that is transiently accessed by the pump pulse. We tailored the pump so as to selectively populate the lowest 1A'' electronic state thereby the pulse creates an electronic coherence with the GS. Our simulations show that this electronic coherence is modulated by the nuclear motion and persists all the way to dissociation on the 1A'' state. Transient absorption spectra computed as a function of the delay time between the pump and the probe pulses provide a detailed probe of the electronic amplitude and its phase, as well as of the modulation of the electronic coherence by the nuclear motion, both bound and dissociative.

Low-lying, Rydberg states of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and cyclic alkanes.

TD-DFT calculations of low-lying, Rydberg states of a series of polycyclic hydrocarbons and cyclic alkanes are presented. Systematic variations in binding energies and photoelectron angular distributions for the first members of the s, p and d Rydberg series are predicted for increasing molecular complexity. Calculated binding energies are found to be in very good agreement with literature values where they exist for comparison. Experimental angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy results are presented for coronene, again showing very good agreement with theoretical predictions of binding energies and also for photoelectron angular distributions. The Dyson orbitals for the small "hollow" carbon structures, cubane, adamantane and dodecahedrane, are shown to have close similarities to atomic s, p and d orbitals, similar to the superatom molecular orbitals (SAMOs) reported for fullerenes, indicating that these low-lying, diffuse states are not restricted to π-conjugated molecules.

Coherent electronic wave packet motion in C(60) controlled by the waveform and polarization of few-cycle laser fields.

Strong laser fields can be used to trigger an ultrafast molecular response that involves electronic excitation and ionization dynamics. Here, we report on the experimental control of the spatial localization of the electronic excitation in the C_{60} fullerene exerted by an intense few-cycle (4 fs) pulse at 720 nm. The control is achieved by tailoring the carrier-envelope phase and the polarization of the laser pulse. We find that the maxima and minima of the photoemission-asymmetry parameter along the laser-polarization axis are synchronized with the localization of the coherent electronic wave packet at around the time of ionization.

Electronic dynamics by ultrafast pump photoelectron detachment probed by ionization: a dynamical simulation of negative-neutral-positive in LiH(-).

The control of electronic dynamics in the neutral electronic states of LiH before the onset of significant nuclei motion is investigated using a negative-neutral-positive (NeNePo) ultrafast IR pump-attoescond pulse train (APT) probe scheme. Starting from the ground state of the anion (LiH(-)), multiphoton ultrafast electron detachment and subsequent excitation of the neutral by a few femtosecond intense IR pulse produces a non-equilibrium electronic density in neutral LiH. The coherent electronic wave packet is then probed by angularly resolved photoionization to the cation by an APT generated from a replica of the pump IR pulse at several time delays. Realistic parameters for the pump and the APT are used. Several NeNePo schemes are simulated using different IR carrier frequencies, showing that the delay between the successive attosecond pulses in the train can be used as a filter to probe the different pairs of states present in the coherent electronic wave packet produced by the pump pulse. The dynamical simulations include the pump and the probe pulses to all orders by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation using a coupled equation scheme for the manifolds of the anion, neutral, and cation subspaces. We show that an incomplete molecular orientation of the molecule in the laboratory frame does not prevent probing the electronic density localization by angularly resolved photoelectron maps.

Pump and probe of ultrafast charge reorganization in small peptides: a computational study through sudden ionizations.

The ultrafast migratory dynamics of the nonstationary hole resulting from a sudden ionization of the small tetrapeptides, Trp-(Leu)3 and Tyr-(Ala)3, is studied using as input a high level quantum chemistry description of the electronic structure for extended conformers computed for frozen nuclei. The sudden ionization process prepares a localized electronic wavepacket that is a superposition of a few stationary states of the cation that are energetically allowed. The superposition evolves field-free until a second ionization to the dication. The wavelength and polarization of the first ultrashort VUV ionizing pulse can be used to tailor the amplitudes on the states of the cation and the initial localization of the hole. For these molecular chains that extend over 15 Å, the most efficient mechanism for charge migration is sequential, involving coherent transitions between neighbor and next neighbor amino-acid subunits. The migration of the hole is probed by a second sudden ionization leading to a dication peptide. Its time scale is in the range of a few to a dozen of femtoseconds depending on the initial state of the cation built by the ionization process. The computed angular distributions provide a clear signature of the field-free dynamics between the two sudden ionization processes. Our results are consistent with the experimental observation that the charge transfer is activated, meaning that an excess energy above the ionization potential of the cation is required for facile migration of charge.

Stereocontrol of attosecond time-scale electron dynamics in ABCU using ultrafast laser pulses: a computational study.

The attosecond time-scale electronic dynamics induced by an ultrashort laser pulse is computed using a multi configuration time dependent approach in ABCU (C(10)H(19)N), a medium size polyatomic molecule with a rigid cage geometry. The coupling between the electronic states induced by the strong pulse is included in the many electron Hamiltonian used to compute the electron dynamics. We show that it is possible to implement control of the electron density stereodynamics in this medium size molecule by varying the characteristics of the laser pulse, for example by polarizing the electric field either along the N-C axis of the cage, or in the plane perpendicular to it. The excitation produces an oscillatory, non-stationary, electronic state that exhibits localization of the electron density in different parts of the molecule both during and after the pulse. The coherent oscillations of the non-stationary electronic state are also demonstrated through the alternation of the dipole moment of the molecule.

Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy studies of the endohedral fullerene Li@C60.

Gas phase photoelectron spectroscopy (Rydberg Fingerprint Spectroscopy), TDDFT calculations and low temperature STM studies are combined to provide detailed information on the properties of the diffuse, low-lying Rydberg-like SAMO states of isolated Li@C60 endohedral fullerenes. The presence of the encapsulated Li is shown by the calculations to produce a significant distortion of the lowest-lying S- and P-SAMOs that is dependent on the position of the Li inside the fullerene cage. Under the high temperature conditions of the gas phase experiments, the Li is mobile and able to access different positions within the cage. This is accounted for in the comparison with theory that shows a very good agreement of the photoelectron angular distributions, allowing the symmetry of the observed SAMO states to be identified. When adsorbed on a metal substrate at low temperature, a strong interaction between the low-lying SAMOs and the metal substrate moves these states to energies much closer to the Fermi energy compared to the situation for empty C60 while the Li remains frozen in an off-centre position.

Transition from SAMO to Rydberg State Ionization in C60 in Femtosecond Laser Fields.

The transition between two distinct ionization mechanisms in femtosecond laser fields at 785 nm is observed for C60 molecules. The transition occurs in the investigated intensity range from 3 to 20 TW/cm2 and is visualized in electron kinetic energy spectra below the one-photon energy (1.5 eV) obtained via velocity map imaging. Assignment of several observed broad spectral peaks to ionization from superatom molecular orbitals (SAMOs) and Rydberg states is based on time-dependent density functional theory simulations. We find that ionization from SAMOs dominates the spectra for intensities below 5 TW/cm2. As the intensity increases, Rydberg state ionization exceeds the prominence of SAMOs. Using short laser pulses (20 fs) allowed uncovering of distinct six-lobe photoelectron angular distributions with kinetic energies just above the threshold (below 0.2 eV), which we interpret as over-the-barrier ionization of shallow f-Rydberg states in C60.

Measurement and laser control of attosecond charge migration in ionized iodoacetylene.

The ultrafast motion of electrons and holes after light-matter interaction is fundamental to a broad range of chemical and biophysical processes. We advanced high-harmonic spectroscopy to resolve spatially and temporally the migration of an electron hole immediately after ionization of iodoacetylene while simultaneously demonstrating extensive control over the process. A multidimensional approach, based on the measurement and accurate theoretical description of both even and odd harmonic orders, enabled us to reconstruct both quantum amplitudes and phases of the electronic states with a resolution of ~100 attoseconds. We separately reconstructed quasi-field-free and laser-controlled charge migration as a function of the spatial orientation of the molecule and determined the shape of the hole created by ionization. Our technique opens the prospect of laser control over electronic primary processes.