Light-induced relaxation dynamics of the ferricyanide ion revisited by ultrafast XUV photoelectron spectroscopy.

Photoinduced charge transfer in transition-metal coordination complexes plays a prominent role in photosynthesis and is fundamental for light-harvesting processes in catalytic materials. However, revealing the relaxation pathways of charge separation remains a very challenging task because of the complexity of relaxation channels and ultrashort time scales. Here, we employ ultrafast XUV photoemission spectroscopy to monitor fine mechanistic details of the electron dynamics following optical ligand-to-metal charge-transfer excitation of ferricyanide in aqueous solution. XUV probe light with a time resolution of 100 fs, in combination with density functional theory employing the Dyson orbital formalism, enabled us to decipher the primary and subsequently populated electronic states involved in the relaxation, as well as their energetics on sub-picosecond timescales. We find strong evidence for the spin crossover followed by geometrical distortions due to vibronic interactions (Jahn-Teller effect) in the excited electronic states, rather than localization/delocalization dynamics, as suggested previously.

Expansion dynamics of supercritical water probed by picosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy.

Vibrational excitation of liquid water with femtosecond laser pulses can create extreme states of water. Yet, the dynamics directly after initial sub-picosecond delocalization of molecular vibrations remain largely unclear. We study the ultrafast expansion dynamics of an accordingly prepared supercritical water phase with a picosecond time resolution. Our experimental setup combines vacuum-compatible liquid micro-jet technology and a table top High Harmonic light source driven by a femtosecond laser system. An ultrashort laser pulse centered at a wavelength of 2900 nm excites the OH-stretch vibration of water molecules in the liquid. The deposited energy corresponds to a supercritical phase with a temperature of about 1000 K and a pressure of more than 1 GPa. We use a time-delayed extreme ultraviolet pulse centered at 38.6 eV, and obtained via High Harmonic generation (HHG), to record valence band photoelectron spectra of the expanding water sample. The series of photoelectron spectra is analyzed with noise-corrected target transform fitting (cTTF), a specifically developed multivariate method. Together with a simple fluid dynamics simulation, the following picture emerges: when a supercritical phase of water expands into vacuum, temperature and density of the first few nanometers of the expanding phase drop below the critical values within a few picoseconds. This results in a supersaturated phase, in which condensation seeds form and grow from small clusters to large clusters on a 100 picosecond timescale.

Femtosecond time-resolved XUV + UV photoelectron imaging of pure helium nanodroplets.

Liquid helium nanodroplets, consisting of on average 2 × 10(6) atoms, are examined using femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging. The droplets are excited by an extreme ultraviolet light pulse centered at 23.7 eV photon energy, leading to states within a band that is associated with the 1s3p and 1s4p Rydberg levels of free helium atoms. The initially excited states and subsequent relaxation dynamics are probed by photoionizing transient species with a 3.2 eV pulse and using velocity map imaging to measure time-dependent photoelectron kinetic energy distributions. Significant differences are seen compared to previous studies with a lower energy (1.6 eV) probe pulse. Three distinct time-dependent signals are analyzed by global fitting. A broad intense signal, centered at an electron kinetic energy (eKE) of 2.3 eV, grows in faster than the experimental time resolution and decays in ~100 fs. This feature is attributed to the initially excited droplet state. A second broad transient feature, with eKE ranging from 0.5 to 4 eV, appears at a rate similar to the decay of the initially excited state and is attributed to rapid atomic reconfiguration resulting in Franck-Condon overlap with a broader range of cation geometries, possibly involving formation of a Rydberg-excited (He(n))* core within the droplet. An additional relaxation pathway leads to another short-lived feature with vertical binding energies ≳2.4 eV, which is identified as a transient population within the lower-lying 1s2p Rydberg band. Ionization at 3.2 eV shows an enhanced contribution from electronically excited droplet states compared to ejected Rydberg atoms, which dominate at 1.6 eV. This is possibly the result of increased photoelectron generation from the bulk of the droplet by the more energetic probe photons.

The hydrated electron: a seemingly familiar chemical and biological transient.

Since the discovery of the hydrated electron in bulk water in 1962, the species has been the subject of intense research and speculation. For many decades even the basic features of the simplest of all chemical and biological transients and reactants--such as its structure, binding motifs, lifetimes, and binding energies--remained elusive. Recently, another milestone in the research of the hydrated electron was the determination of its vertical binding energy (VBE). Also a long-lived hydrated electron near the surface of liquid water has been discovered. The present Minireview discusses the implications and consequences of this and other new findings in addition to the emerging complex picture of a solvated electron in water.

Imaging Nanoscale Morphology of Semiconducting Polymer Films with Photoemission Electron Microscopy.

Photoemission electron microscopy in combination with polarized laser light is presented as a tool permitting direct imaging of polymer-chain orientation and local degree of order in semicrystalline samples of semiconducting polymers, a promising class of materials for future electronics. The key advantages of this imaging tool are its nondestructive and fast measurements, straightforward data analysis, the low complexity of sample preparation, and the possibility of performing measurements on a broad variety of technologically relevant substrates. The high spatial resolution of the microscope provides insights into the nanoscale morphology, which is relevant for the material's performance in electronic devices.

Efficient synthesis of triarylamine-based dyes for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells.

The class of triarylamine-based dyes has proven great potential as efficient light absorbers in inverse (p-type) dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, detailed investigation and further improvement of p-type DSSCs is strongly hindered by the fact that available synthesis routes of triarylamine-based dyes are inefficient and particularly demanding with regard to time and costs. Here, we report on an efficient synthesis strategy for triarylamine-based dyes for p-type DSSCs. A protocol for the synthesis of the dye-precursor (4-(bis(4-bromophenyl)amino)benzoic acid) is presented along with its X-ray crystal structure. The dye precursor is obtained from the commercially available 4(diphenylamino)benzaldehyde in a yield of 87% and serves as a starting point for the synthesis of various triarylamine-based dyes. Starting from the precursor we further describe a synthesis protocol for the dye 4-{bis[4'-(2,2-dicyanovinyl)-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl]amino}benzoic acid (also known as dye P4) in a yield of 74%. All synthesis steps are characterized by high yields and high purities without the need for laborious purification steps and thus fulfill essential requirements for scale-up.

Communication: X-ray coherent diffractive imaging by immersion in nanodroplets.

Lensless x-ray microscopy requires the recovery of the phase of the radiation scattered from a specimen. Here, we demonstrate a de novo phase retrieval technique by encapsulating an object in a superfluid helium nanodroplet, which provides both a physical support and an approximate scattering phase for the iterative image reconstruction. The technique is robust, fast-converging, and yields the complex density of the immersed object. Images of xenon clusters embedded in superfluid helium droplets reveal transient configurations of quantum vortices in this fragile system.

Sub-nanosecond time-resolved ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy setup for pulsed and constant wave X-ray light sources.

An apparatus for sub-nanosecond time-resolved ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies with pulsed and constant wave X-ray light sources is presented. A differentially pumped hemispherical electron analyzer is equipped with a delay-line detector that simultaneously records the position and arrival time of every single electron at the exit aperture of the hemisphere with ~0.1 mm spatial resolution and ~150 ps temporal accuracy. The kinetic energies of the photoelectrons are encoded in the hit positions along the dispersive axis of the two-dimensional detector. Pump-probe time-delays are provided by the electron arrival times relative to the pump pulse timing. An average time-resolution of (780 ± 20) ps (FWHM) is demonstrated for a hemisphere pass energy E(p) = 150 eV and an electron kinetic energy range KE = 503-508 eV. The time-resolution of the setup is limited by the electron time-of-flight (TOF) spread related to the electron trajectory distribution within the analyzer hemisphere and within the electrostatic lens system that images the interaction volume onto the hemisphere entrance slit. The TOF spread for electrons with KE = 430 eV varies between ~9 ns at a pass energy of 50 eV and ~1 ns at pass energies between 200 eV and 400 eV. The correlation between the retarding ratio and the TOF spread is evaluated by means of both analytical descriptions of the electron trajectories within the analyzer hemisphere and computer simulations of the entire trajectories including the electrostatic lens system. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the by far dominant contribution to the TOF spread is acquired within the hemisphere. However, both experiment and computer simulations show that the lens system indirectly affects the time resolution of the setup to a significant extent by inducing a strong dependence of the angular spread of electron trajectories entering the hemisphere on the retarding ratio. The scaling of the angular spread with the retarding ratio can be well approximated by applying Liouville's theorem of constant emittance to the electron trajectories inside the lens system. The performance of the setup is demonstrated by characterizing the laser fluence-dependent transient surface photovoltage response of a laser-excited Si(100) sample.

Atomic-Scale Perspective of Ultrafast Charge Transfer at a Dye-Semiconductor Interface.

Understanding interfacial charge-transfer processes on the atomic level is crucial to support the rational design of energy-challenge relevant systems such as solar cells, batteries, and photocatalysts. A femtosecond time-resolved core-level photoelectron spectroscopy study is performed that probes the electronic structure of the interface between ruthenium-based N3 dye molecules and ZnO nanocrystals within the first picosecond after photoexcitation and from the unique perspective of the Ru reporter atom at the center of the dye. A transient chemical shift of the Ru 3d inner-shell photolines by (2.3 ± 0.2) eV to higher binding energies is observed 500 fs after photoexcitation of the dye. The experimental results are interpreted with the aid of ab initio calculations using constrained density functional theory. Strong indications for the formation of an interfacial charge-transfer state are presented, providing direct insight into a transient electronic configuration that may limit the efficiency of photoinduced free charge-carrier generation.

Helium superfluidity. Shapes and vorticities of superfluid helium nanodroplets.

Helium nanodroplets are considered ideal model systems to explore quantum hydrodynamics in self-contained, isolated superfluids. However, exploring the dynamic properties of individual droplets is experimentally challenging. In this work, we used single-shot femtosecond x-ray coherent diffractive imaging to investigate the rotation of single, isolated superfluid helium-4 droplets containing ~10(8) to 10(11) atoms. The formation of quantum vortex lattices inside the droplets is confirmed by observing characteristic Bragg patterns from xenon clusters trapped in the vortex cores. The vortex densities are up to five orders of magnitude larger than those observed in bulk liquid helium. The droplets exhibit large centrifugal deformations but retain axially symmetric shapes at angular velocities well beyond the stability range of viscous classical droplets.

Binding energies, lifetimes and implications of bulk and interface solvated electrons in water.

Solvated electrons in liquid water are one of the seemingly simplest, but most important, transients in chemistry and biology, but they have resisted disclosing important information about their energetics, binding motifs and dynamics. Here we report the first ultrafast liquid-jet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements of solvated electrons in liquid water. The results prove unequivocally the existence of solvated electrons bound at the water surface and of solvated electrons in the bulk solution, with vertical binding energies of 1.6 eV and 3.3 eV, respectively, and with lifetimes longer than 100 ps. The unexpectedly long lifetime of solvated electrons bound at the water surface is attributed to a free-energy barrier that separates surface and interior states. Beyond constituting important energetic and kinetic benchmark and reference data, the results also help to understand the mechanisms of a number of very efficient electron-transfer processes in nature.