Pump-probe laser spectroscopy

Py-dU group, as in P2 this is indicative of ET from the Py-dU group to the adjacent T or C. This ET interpretation is supported by time-resolved pump-probe laser spectroscopy measurements. 

PUMP-PROBE LASER SPECTROSCOPY FRONTIERS OF TIME... 

In all these time-resolved experiments the principles of pump-probe laser spectroscopy are the key element in the experimental design. A laser pulse is optically split into two components of unequal amplitude. The intense fraction, acting as a pump piilse, is directed towards the target or sample cell to trigger the molecular event under study. The much attenuated probe pulse monitors the absorption, raman scattering, polarization, coherence, or phase shift, which is linked explicitly to the dynamical observable under investigation. Extremely precise time... 

The femtosecond pump-probe absorption spectroscopy was used for the investigation of the SI-photoisomerization of cis-stilbene in compressed solvents [20]. The authors of the work [21] demonstrated a technique for femtosecond time-resolved optical pump-probe spectroscopy that allowed to scan over a nanosecond time delay at a kilohertz scan rate without mechanical delay line. Two mode-locked femtosecond lasers with 1 GHz repetition rate were linked at a fixed difference frequency of =11 kHz. One laser delivers the pump pulses, the other provides the probe pulses. The techniques enabled high-speed scanning over a 1-ns time delay with a time resolution of 230 fs. 

Figure 10.2 Time-resolved spectroscopy involving pump probe lasers, (a) Schematic of the experimental setup. The pump laser irradiates the sample with a fixed beam path. The timing of the probe laser is controlled by using a moveable mirror (mirrors I and II) system, (b) The pump laser excites molecules from the 5 state to the 5, state, and the probe laser excites the molecule from the 5 state to the ionization continuum. Molecules in the 5, state can undergo relaxation back to the 5n state...

Figure C3.5.3. Schematic diagram of apparatus used for (a) IR pump-probe or vibrational echo spectroscopy by Payer and co-workers [50] and (b) IR-Raman spectroscopy by Dlott and co-workers [39]. Key OPA = optical parametric amplifier PEL = free-electron laser MOD = high speed optical modulator PMT = photomultiplier OMA = optical multichannel analyser.

Figure 1.4. Experimental and theoretical femtosecond spectroscopy of IBr dissociation. Experimental ionisation signals as a function of pump-probe time delay for different pump wavelengths given in (a) and (b) show how the time required for decay of the initally excited molecule varies dramatically according to the initial vibrational energy that is deposited in the molecule by the pump laser. The calculated ionisation trace shown in (c) mimics the experimental result shown in (b).

A qualitatively different approach to probing multiple pathways is to interrogate the reaction intermediates directly, while they are following different pathways on the PES, using femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy [19]. In this case, the pump laser initiates the reaction, while the probe laser measures absorption, excites fluorescence, induces ionization, or creates some other observable that selectively probes each reaction pathway. For example, the ion states produced upon photoionization of a neutral species depend on the Franck-Condon overlap between the nuclear configuration of the neutral and the various ion states available. Photoelectron spectroscopy is a sensitive probe of the structural differences between neutrals and cations. If the structure and energetics of the ion states are well determined and sufficiently diverse in... 

Since there are a large number of different experimental laser and detection systems that can be used for time-resolved resonance Raman experiments, we shall only focus our attention here on two common types of methods that are typically used to investigate chemical reactions. We shall first describe typical nanosecond TR spectroscopy instrumentation that can obtain spectra of intermediates from several nanoseconds to millisecond time scales by employing electronic control of the pnmp and probe laser systems to vary the time-delay between the pnmp and probe pnlses. We then describe typical ultrafast TR spectroscopy instrumentation that can be used to examine intermediates from the picosecond to several nanosecond time scales by controlling the optical path length difference between the pump and probe laser pulses. In some reaction systems, it is useful to utilize both types of laser systems to study the chemical reaction and intermediates of interest from the picosecond to the microsecond or millisecond time-scales. 

Chen LX, Shaw GB, Novozhilova I, Liu T, Jennings G, Attenkofer K, Meyer GJ, Coppens P (2003) MLCT state structure and dynamics of a copper(I) diimine complex characterized by pump-probe X-ray and laser spectroscopies and DFT calculations. J Am Chem Soc 125 ... 

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