Coherent states bond vibrations

Modem photochemistry (IR, UV or VIS) is induced by coherent or incoherent radiative excitation processes [4, 5, 6 and 7]. The first step within a photochemical process is of course a preparation step within our conceptual framework, in which time-dependent states are generated that possibly show IVR. In an ideal scenario, energy from a laser would be deposited in a spatially localized, large amplitude vibrational motion of the reacting molecular system, which would then possibly lead to the cleavage of selected chemical bonds. This is basically the central idea behind the concepts for a mode selective chemistry , introduced in the late 1970s [127], and has continuously received much attention [10, 117. 122. 128. 129. 130. 131. 132. 133. 134... 

One of the most interesting applications of Femtochemistry is the stroboscopic measuring of observables related to molecular motion, for instance the vibrational periods or the breaking of a bond [1], Because femtosecond laser fields are broadband, a wave packet is created by the coherent excitation of many vibrational states, which subsequently evolves in the electronic potential following mostly a classical trajectory. This behavior is to be contrasted to narrow band selective excitation, where perhaps only two (the initial and the final) states participate in the superposition, following typically a very non-classical evolution. In this case one usually is not interested in the evolution of other observables than the populations. 

Unlike the case of simple diatomic molecules, the reaction coordinate in polyatomic molecules does not simply correspond to the change of a particular chemical bond. Therefore, it is not yet clear for polyatomic molecules how the observed wavepacket motion is related to the reaction coordinate. Study of such a coherent vibration in ultrafast reacting system is expected to give us a clue to reveal its significance in chemical reactions. In this study, we employed two-color pump-probe spectroscopy with ultrashort pulses in the 10-fs regime, and investigated the coherent nuclear motion of solution-phase molecules that undergo photodissociation and intramolecular proton transfer in the excited state. 

Figure 14. (a) Potential-energy surfaces, with a trajectory showing the coherent vibrational motion as the diatom separates from the I atom. Two snapshots of the wavepacket motion (quantum molecular dynamics calculations) are shown for the same reaction at / = 0 and t = 600 fs. (b) Femtosecond dynamics of barrier reactions, IHgl system. Experimental observations of the vibrational (femtosecond) and rotational (picosecond) motions for the barrier (saddle-point transition state) descent, [IHgl] - Hgl(vib, rot) + I, are shown. The vibrational coherence in the reaction trajectories (oscillations) is observed in both polarizations of FTS. The rotational orientation can be seen in the decay of FTS spectra (parallel) and buildup of FTS (perpendicular) as the Hgl rotates during bond breakage (bottom). 

In this chapter, coherent low-frequency motions and their role in hydrogen bond dynamics and hydrogen transfer are discussed. In Section 15.2, the basic vibrational excitations and couplings in a hydrogen bond are introduced. Recent results on coherent low-frequency motions of intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in the electronic ground state are presented in Section 15.3. The role of low-frequency motions in excited state intramolecular hydrogen transfer is addressed in Section 15.4, followed by some conclusions (Section 15.5). 

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