Electron diffraction with bound electrons: The structure sensitivity of Rydberg Fingerprint Spectroscopy

Ultraviolet-light-triggered isomerization of Rydberg-excited propanal: Real-time capture of ultrafast structural evolution and dynamics investigation

Structure rearrangement processes, such as isomerization, are attracting extensive interest as a potential carrier in molecular scale electronics design. UV-light-triggered isomerization of Rydberg-excited propanal with two UV photons has been investigated with time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. By following the photoionization from 3s Rydberg states in the time domain, the ultrafast structural evolution and the corresponding photoisomerization dynamics are observed and tracked in real-time. The conversion barrier for isomerization from cis-propanal to gauche isomer is estimated to be about 1500 ± 100 cm^-1 experimentally. Both the photoisomerization yield and the conversion rate have shown strong dependence on the excitation energy. It is observed that whether vibration modes are selectively excited or not, cis-to-gauche photoisomerization of propanal in 3s Rydberg state occurs once the excitation energy is higher than the conversion barrier without any vibrational excitation specificity. This yields a powerful approach to studying structural evolution dynamics in large molecules, which may have applications in molecular devices.

Ultrafast structural and isomerization dynamics in the Rydberg-exited quadricyclane: norbornadiene system

The quadricyclane-norbornadiene system is an important model for the isomerization dynamics between highly strained molecules. In a breakthrough observation for a polyatomic molecular system of that complexity, we follow the photoionization from Rydberg states in the time-domain to derive a measure for the time-dependent structural dynamics and the time-evolving structural dispersion even while the molecule is crossing electronic surfaces. The photoexcitation to the 3s and 3p Rydberg states deposits significant amounts of energy into vibrational motions. We observe the formation and evolution of the vibrational wavepacket on the Rydberg surface and the internal conversion from the 3p Rydberg states to the 3s state. In that state, quadricyclane isomerizes to norbornadiene with a time constant of τ(2) = 136(45) fs. The lifetime of the 3p Rydberg state in quadricyclane is τ(1) = 320(31) and the lifetime of the 3s Rydberg state in norbornadiene is τ(3) = 394(32).

Standoff detection of large organic molecules using Rydberg fingerprint spectroscopy and microwave Rayleigh scattering

We present a technique for nonintrusive and standoff detection of large organic molecules using coherent microwave Rayleigh scattering from plasma produced by structure sensitive photoionization through Rydberg states. We test the method on 1,4-diazobicyclooctane. Transitions between the 3s Rydberg state and higher lying Rydberg states are probed using two-color photoionization with 266 nm photons and photons in the range of 460-2400 nm. Photoionization is detected using microwave radiation, which is scattered by the unbounded electrons. Highly resolved Rydberg spectra are acquired in vacuum and in air.