| 1. |
- Fouda, Adam, et al.
(author)
-
Influence of Selective Carbon 1s Excitation on Auger–Meitner Decay in the ESCA Molecule
- 2024
-
In: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - 1948-7185. ; 15:16, s. 4286-4293
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Two-dimensional spectral mapping is used to visualize how resonant Auger–Meitner spectra are influenced by the site of the initial core–electron excitation and the symmetry of the core-excited state in the trifluoroethyl acetate molecule (ESCA). We observe a significant enhancement of electron yield for excitation of the COO 1s → π* and CF3 1s → σ* resonances unlike excitation at resonances involving the CH3 and CH2 sites. The CF3 1s → π* and CF3 1s → σ* resonance spectra are very different from each other, with the latter populating most valence states equally. Two complementary electronic structure calculations for the photoelectron cross section and Auger–Meitner intensity are shown to effectively reproduce the site- and state-selective nature of the resonant enhancement features. The site of the core–electron excitation and the respective final state hole locality increase the sensistivity of the photoelectron signal at specific functional group sites. This showcases resonant Auger–Meitner decay as a potentially powerful tool for selectively probing structural changes at specific functional group sites of polyatomic molecules.
|
|
| 2. |
- Ho, Phay J., et al.
(author)
-
The role of transient resonances for ultra-fast imaging of single sucrose nanoclusters
- 2020
-
In: Nature Communications. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2041-1723. ; 11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Intense x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) pulses hold great promise for imaging function in nanoscale and biological systems with atomic resolution. So far, however, the spatial resolution obtained from single shot experiments lags averaging static experiments. Here we report on a combined computational and experimental study about ultrafast diffractive imaging of sucrose clusters which are benchmark organic samples. Our theoretical model matches the experimental data from the water window to the keV x-ray regime. The large-scale dynamic scattering calculations reveal that transient phenomena driven by non-linear x-ray interaction are decisive for ultrafast imaging applications. Our study illuminates the complex interplay of the imaging process with the rapidly changing transient electronic structures in XFEL experiments and shows how computational models allow optimization of the parameters for ultrafast imaging experiments. X-ray free electron lasers provide high photon flux to explore single particle diffraction imaging of biological samples. Here the authors present dynamic electronic structure calculations and benchmark them to single-particle XFEL diffraction data of sucrose clusters to predict optimal single-shot imaging conditions.
|
|
| 3. |
- Inhester, Ludger, et al.
(author)
-
Chemical Understanding of the Limited Site-Specificity in Molecular Inner-Shell Photofragmentation
- 2018
-
In: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7185. ; 9:5, s. 1156-1163
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In many cases fragmentation of molecules upon inner-shell ionization is very unspecific with respect to the initially localized ionization site. Often this finding is interpreted in terms of an equilibration of internal energy into vibrational degrees of freedom after Auger decay. We investigate the X-ray photofragmentation of ethyl trifluoroacetate upon core electron ionization at environmentally distinct carbon sites using photoelectron-photoion-photoion coincidence measurements and ab initio electronic structure calculations. For all four carbon ionization sites, the Auger decay weakens the same bonds and transfers the two charges to opposite ends of the molecule, which leads to a rapid dissociation into three fragments, followed by further fragmentation steps. The lack of site specificity is attributed to the character of the dicationic electronic states after Auger decay instead of a fast equilibration of internal energy.
|
|
| 4. |
- Milne, Christopher J., et al.
(author)
-
Disentangling the evolution of electrons and holes in photoexcited ZnO nanoparticles
- 2023
-
In: Structural Dynamics. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 2329-7778. ; 10:6
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The evolution of charge carriers in photoexcited room temperature ZnO nanoparticles in solution is investigated using ultrafast ultraviolet photoluminescence spectroscopy, ultrafast Zn K-edge absorption spectroscopy, and ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The photoluminescence is excited at 4.66 eV, well above the band edge, and shows that electron cooling in the conduction band and exciton formation occur in <500 fs, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The x-ray absorption measurements, obtained upon excitation close to the band edge at 3.49 eV, are sensitive to the migration and trapping of holes. They reveal that the 2 ps transient largely reproduces the previously reported transient obtained at 100 ps time delay in synchrotron studies. In addition, the x-ray absorption signal is found to rise in similar to 1.4 ps, which we attribute to the diffusion of holes through the lattice prior to their trapping at singly charged oxygen vacancies. Indeed, the MD simulations show that impulsive trapping of holes induces an ultrafast expansion of the cage of Zn atoms in <200 fs, followed by an oscillatory response at a frequency of similar to 100 cm-1, which corresponds to a phonon mode of the system involving the Zn sub-lattice.
|
|
| 5. |
- Sopena Moros, Arturo, et al.
(author)
-
Tracking Cavity Formation in Electron Solvation : Insights from X-ray Spectroscopy and Theory
- 2024
-
In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 146:5, s. 3262-3269
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present time-resolved X-ray absorption spectra of ionized liquid water and demonstrate that OH radicals, H3O+ ions, and solvated electrons all leave distinct X-ray-spectroscopic signatures. Particularly, this allows us to characterize the electron solvation process through a tool that focuses on the electronic response of oxygen atoms in the immediate vicinity of a solvated electron. Our experimental results, supported by ab initio calculations, confirm the formation of a cavity in which the solvated electron is trapped. We show that the solvation dynamics are governed by the magnitude of the random structural fluctuations present in water. As a consequence, the solvation time is highly sensitive to temperature and to the specific way the electron is injected into water.
|
|
| 6. |
- Vanko, Gyoergy, et al.
(author)
-
Detailed Characterization of a Nanosecond-Lived Excited State: X-ray and Theoretical Investigation of the Quintet State in Photoexcited [Fe(terpy)(2)](2+)
- 2015
-
In: Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 119:11, s. 5888-5902
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Theoretical predictions show that depending on the populations of the Fe 3d(xy), 3d(xz), and 3d(yz) orbitals two possible quintet states can exist for the high-spin state of the photoswitchable model system [Fe(terpy)(2)](2+). The differences in the structure and molecular properties of these B-5(2) and E-5 quintets are very small and pose a substantial challenge for experiments to resolve them. Yet for a better understanding of the physics of this system, which can lead to the design of novel molecules with enhanced photoswitching performance, it is vital to determine which high-spin state is reached in the transitions that follow the light excitation. The quintet state can be prepared with a short laser pulse and can be studied with cutting-edge time-resolved X-ray techniques. Here we report on the application of an extended set of X-ray spectroscopy and scattering techniques applied to investigate the quintet state of [Fe(terpy)(2)](2+) 80 ps after light excitation. High-quality X-ray absorption, nonresonant emission, and resonant emission spectra as well as X-ray diffuse scattering data clearly reflect the formation of the high-spin state of the [Fe(terpy)(2)](2+) molecule; moreover, extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy resolves the Fe-ligand bond-length variations with unprecedented bond-length accuracy in time-resolved experiments. With ab initio calculations we determine why, in contrast to most related systems, one configurational mode is insufficient for the description of the low-spin (LS)-high-spin (HS) transition. We identify the electronic structure origin of the differences between the two possible quintet modes, and finally, we unambiguously identify the formed quintet state as 5E, in agreement with our theoretical expectations.
|
|
| 7. |
- Vanko, Gyoergy, et al.
(author)
-
Spin-state studies with XES and RIXS: From static to ultrafast
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena. - : Elsevier BV. - 0368-2048. ; 188, s. 166-171
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on extending hard X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) along with resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) to study ultrafast phenomena in a pump-probe scheme at MHz repetition rates. The investigated systems include low-spin (LS) Fe-II complex compounds, where optical pulses induce a spin-state transition to their (sub)nanosecond-lived high-spin (HS) state. Time-resolved XES clearly reflects the spin-state variations with very high signal-to-noise ratio, in agreement with HS-LS difference spectra measured at thermal spin crossover, and reference HS-LS systems in static experiments, next to multiplet calculations. The 1s2p RIXS, measured at the Fe Is pre-edge region, shows variations after laser excitation, which are consistent with the formation of the HS state. Our results demonstrate that X-ray spectroscopy experiments with overall rather weak signals, such as RIXS, can now be reliably exploited to study chemical and physical transformations on ultrafast time scales. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
|
|
