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Cederbaum LS, Kuleff AI. Stimulated Emission of Virtual Photons: Energy Transfer by Light. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:7357-7362. [PMID: 38990327 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c01191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2024]
Abstract
Energy-transfer processes can be viewed as being due to the emission of a virtual photon. It is demonstrated that the emission of virtual photons and thus of energy transfer is stimulated by the sheer presence of photons. We concentrate here on interatomic/intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD) where an excited system relaxes by transferring its excess energy to a neighbor ionizing it. ICD is inactive if this excess energy is insufficiently large. However, in the presence of photons, the long-range interaction between the system and its neighbor can utilize the photon field making ICD active. The properties of this stimulated-ICD mechanism are discussed. The concept can be transferred to other scenarios. We discuss collective-ICD where two excited molecules concertedly transfer their excess energy. Also here, the presence of photons can make the process active if the sum of excess energies were insufficient to do so. Examples with typical molecules and atoms are presented to demonstrate that these stimulated processes can play a role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenz S Cederbaum
- Theoretische Chemie, Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, Heidelberg D-69120, Germany
| | - Alexander I Kuleff
- Theoretische Chemie, Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, Heidelberg D-69120, Germany
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Zhou J, Jia S, Xue X, Skitnevskaya AD, Wang E, Wang X, Hao X, Zeng Q, Kuleff AI, Dorn A, Ren X. Revealing the Role of N Heteroatoms in Noncovalent Aromatic Interactions by Ultrafast Intermolecular Coulombic Decay. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:1529-1538. [PMID: 38299504 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2024]
Abstract
Despite the widely recognized importance of noncovalent interactions involving aromatic rings in many fields, our understanding of the underlying forces and structural patterns, especially the impact of heteroaromaticity, is still incomplete. Here, we investigate the relaxation processes that follow inner-valence ionization in a range of molecular dimers involving various combinations of benzene, pyridine, and pyrimidine, which initiate an ultrafast intermolecular Coulombic decay process. Multiparticle coincidence momentum spectroscopy, combined with ab initio calculations, enables us to explore the principal orientations of these fundamental dimers and, thus, to elucidate the influence of N heteroatoms on the relative preference of the aromatic π-stacking, H-bonding, and CH-π interactions and their dependence on the number of nitrogen atoms in the rings. Our studies reveal a sensitive tool for the structural imaging of molecular complexes and provide a more complete understanding of the effects of N heteroatoms on the noncovalent aromatic interactions at the molecular level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaqi Zhou
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Shaokui Jia
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Xiaorui Xue
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Anna D Skitnevskaya
- Laboratory of Quantum Chemistry, Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk 664003, Russia
| | - Enliang Wang
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
| | - Xing Wang
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Xintai Hao
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Qingrui Zeng
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Alexander I Kuleff
- Theoretische Chemie, Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg 69120, Germany
| | - Alexander Dorn
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg 69117, Germany
| | - Xueguang Ren
- MOE Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg 69117, Germany
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Behera NR, Dutta S, Chacko R, Barik S, Aravind G. A 22-pole radiofrequency ion trap setup for laboratory astrophysical studies. THE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 2024; 95:013201. [PMID: 38197771 DOI: 10.1063/5.0166169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
The formation of large interstellar molecules starting from small reactants constitutes the bottom-up approach in astrochemistry. An experimental setup wherein the ionic reactant is prepared and allowed to react with neutral reactants within a confined interaction space is most desirable for this approach. Here, we present our efforts in constructing a 22-pole radio-frequency ion trap experimental setup that could act as a reaction chamber for the neutral reactant and trapped ions. A compact piezo-based pulsed supersonic expansion discharge source was developed to achieve efficient production of anions, particularly metal-bearing ions. In addition, two other ion sources, namely, the electron impact ion source and the plasma supersonic discharge ion source, were developed to cater to the production of specific ions. The geometry of this experimental setup facilitates photo excitation of trapped ions. The trapping efficiency was studied by trapping SF5+ and SF6- for a few seconds. The control exhibited by various parameters on the efficiency of the trapping is discussed in detail. Potential studies that could be performed with this new experimental setup are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Saurav Dutta
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
| | - Roby Chacko
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
| | - Saroj Barik
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
| | - G Aravind
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
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