Ultrafast laser irradiation

Nayak BK, Gupta MC. Self-organized micro/nano structures in metal surfaces by ultrafast laser irradiation. Opt Lasers Eng 2010 48 940-9. 

The photochemical ligand substitution reaction of la was investigated by ultrafast TR-IR spectroscopy (Fig. 16) 51). An acetonitrile solution of la was irradiated by a 266-nm laser pulse ( 150 fs pulse width). A broad IR absorption band which was attributed to the reaction products in higher vibrational excited states was produced within 1 ps after the laser flash. The broad band sharpened and a vqo peak at 1828 cm of the reaction product was observed in the 50- to 100-ps duration. This time scale is much shorter than the decay of the lowest MLCT excited state (right-hand side of Fig. 16). The TR-IR results indicate that this photochemical reaction proceeds from higher vibrational states or high-energy electronic excited states instead of the lower vibrational excited states of MLCT and thermal accessible states from MLCT such as the LF state. 

A pulsed Nd YAG laser beam has been used at 532 and 1064 nm to irradiate graphite-metal composites in many studies.High efficiency laser-vaporization methods such as ultrafast pulses from a free electron laser and... 

One final example of ultrafast kinetics performed at radiolysis facilities is the study of excited states of radical ions. An accelerator pulse can be used to generate radical species, which can then be excited by a pump laser beam and probed with femtosecond resolution by another laser pulse with variable optical delay. This application does not depend on precise correlation of the electron and laser pulses and can be done at almost all radiolysis facilities. The availability of femtosecond lasers in photocathode facilities places all the necessary components to hand. Effective pump-probe measurements will require significant concentrations of radical ions. This can be accomplished by frequency-quadrupling a 5-9 nanosecond Nd YAG pulse to irradiate the photocathode, thereby creating a macropulse containing several tens of nanocoulombs which will produce a high concentration of radicals for the pump-probe experiment. 

The kinetics of ultrafast polymerization of acrylic monomers exposed to UV radiation or laser beams has been investigated by IR spectroscopy. An 8 fold increase of the cure speed was observed by using diphenoxybenzophenone as photoinitiator instead of benzophenone. llie reactivity of polyurethane-acrylate or epoxyacrylate systems was markedly improved by adding acrylic monomers that contain carbamate or oxazolidone groups and which impart both hardness and flexibility to the cured polymer. Time-resolved infirared spectroscopy was used to directly record the actual polymerization profile for reactions taking place within a fraction of a second upon UV or laser exposure. Comparison with other techniques of real-time analysis show the distinct advantages of this method for an accurate evaluation of the important kinetic parameters and of the dark polymerization which develops just after the irradiation. 

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