Advanced time-resolved absorption spectroscopy with an ultrashort visible/near IR laser and a multi-channel lock-in detector

Ultrashort visible-near infrared (NIR) pulse generation and its applications to ultrafast spectroscopy are discussed. Femtosecond pulses of around 800 nm from a Ti:sapphire laser are used as a pump of an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) in a non-collinear configuration to generate ultrashort visible (500-780 nm) pulses and deep-ultraviolet (DUV, 259-282 nm) pulses. The visible-NIR pulses and DUV pulses were compressed to 3.9 fs and 10.4 fs, respectively, and used to elucidate various ultrafast dynamics in condensed matter with a sub-10 fs resolution by pump-probe measurements. We have also developed a 128-channel lock-in amplifier. The combined system of the world-shortest visible pulse from the OPA and the lock-in amplifier with the world-largest channel-number can clarify the sub-10 fs-dynamics in condensed matter. This system clarified structural changes in an excited state, reaction intermediate, and a transition state. This is possible even during molecular vibration and reactions via a real-time-resolved vibronic spectrum, which provides molecular structural change information. Also, ultrafast dynamics in exotic materials like carbon nanotubes, topological insulators, and novel solar battery systems have been clarified. Furthermore, the carrier-envelope phase in the ultrashort pulse has been controlled and measured.

Femtosecond electronic relaxation and real-time vibrational dynamics in 2′-hydroxychalcone

Electronic relaxation, proton transfer and instantaneous vibrational frequency change after the impulsive excitation by a deep ultraviolet 9 fs pulse were studied.

Transient process spectroscopy for the direct observation of inter-molecular photo-dissociation

Transient process spectroscopy has previously been thought to be applicable only to the analysis of intra-molecular processes. Two metal ion bridges used in the present work have allowed us to visualize real-time variations of the molecular vibration frequencies during photo-disproportionation inside bimolecule aggregates, which directly shows transient inter-molecular reactions.

Reinterpretation of Dynamic Vibrational Spectroscopy to Determine the Molecular Structure and Dynamics of Ferrocene

Molecular distortion of dynamic molecules gives a clear signature in the vibrational spectra, which can be modeled to give estimates of the energy barrier and the sensitivity of the frequencies of the vibrational modes to the reaction coordinate. The reaction coordinate method (RCM) utilizes ab initio-calculated spectra of the molecule in its ground and transition states together with their relative energies to predict the temperature dependence of the vibrational spectra. DFT-calculated spectra of the eclipsed (D_5h ) and staggered (D_5d ) forms of ferrocene (Fc), and its deuterated analogue, within RCM explain the IR spectra of Fc in gas (350 K), solution (300 K), solid solution (7-300 K), and solid (7-300 K) states. In each case the D_5h rotamer is lowest in energy but with the barrier to interconversion between rotamers higher for solution-phase samples (ca. 6 kJ mol^-1 ) than for the gas-phase species (1-3 kJ mol^-1 ). The generality of the approach is demonstrated with application to tricarbonyl(η⁴ -norbornadiene)iron(0), Fe(NBD)(CO)₃ . The temperature-dependent coalescence of the ν(CO) bands of Fe(NBD)(CO)₃ is well explained by the RCM without recourse to NMR-like rapid exchange. The RCM establishes a clear link between the calculated ground and transition states of dynamic molecules and the temperature-dependence of their vibrational spectra.