Ultrafast electron transfer processes studied by pump-repump-probe spectroscopy.

The photodetachment of Br(-), I(-) and OH(-) in aqueous solution is studied by 2- and 3-pulse femtosecond spectroscopy. The UV excitation leads to fast electron separation followed by formation of a donor-electron pairs. An additional repump pulse is used for secondary excitation of the intermediates. The 3-pulse technique allows distinguishing the pair-intermediate from the fully separated electron. Using this method we observe a novel geminate recombination channel of .OH with adjacent hydrated electrons. The process leads to an ultrafast quenching (0.7 ps) of almost half the initial number of radicals. The phenomenon is not observed in Br(-) and I(-). Our results demonstrate the potential of the 3-pulse spectroscopy to elucidate the mechanism of ultrafast ET reactions. Photodetachment of aqueous anions studied by two- and three pulse spectroscopy.

Ultrafast geminate recombination after photodetachment of aqueous hydroxide.

The photodetachment of aqueous hydroxide (OH(−)(aq) and OD(−)(aq)) is studied using femtosecond pump−probe and pump−repump−probe spectroscopy. The electron is detached after excitation of the hydroxide ion to a charge-transfer-to-solvent (CTTS) state at 202 nm. An early intermediate is observed that builds up within 160 fs and is assigned to nonequilibrated OH−electron pairs. The subsequent dynamics are governed by thermalization, partial recombination, and dissociation of the pairs, yielding the final hydrated electrons and hydroxyl radicals. An additional pulse at 810 nm is used for secondary excitation of the intermediate species so that more insight is gained into the recombination process(es). Using this technique we observe a novel geminate recombination channel of OH with adjacent hydrated electrons. This channel leads to ultrafast quenching (700 fs) of almost half the initial number of radicals. The fast mechanism displays an isotope effect of 1.4 (for OD(−)(aq) quantum yield 35%, time constant 1.0 ps). This process was not observed in similar experiments on aqueous bromide and seems to be related to the special properties of the hydroxide ion and its local H-bonding environment. Our findings underline the high reactivity of the prehydrated electron.

Femtosecond electron detachment of aqueous bromide studied by two and three pulse spectroscopy.

The photodetachment of aqueous bromide after excitation at 202 nm is studied by pump-probe and pump-repump-probe spectroscopy. The initially excited charge-transfer-to-solvent state is followed by an intermediate assigned to non-equilibrated bromine-electron pairs. The subsequent dynamics are governed by equilibration, recombination and dissociation of the pairs, yielding the final hydrated electrons. An additional repump pulse is used for secondary excitation of the intermediate species, increasing the final number of hydrated electrons. Thus, a fraction of the solvent-separated bromine-electron pairs are converted to fully released electrons representing an optical manipulation of the photodetachment pathway. The observed hindrance of the recombination process by repumping allows determination of the effective lifetime of the solvent-separated atom-electron pairs to be 19 +/- 2 ps at room temperature. The measured temperature dependence of the time constant suggests a free energy barrier for pair dissociation of DeltaG = 0.15 +/- 0.02 eV.

Observation of a remarkable temperature effect in the hydrogen bonding structure and dynamics of the CN(-)(H2O) cluster.

The CN(-)(H2O) cluster represents a model diatomic monohydrate with multiple solvation sites. We report joint experimental and theoretical studies of its structure and dynamics using temperature-controlled photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) and ab initio electronic structure calculations. The observed PES spectra of CN(-)(H2O) display a remarkable temperature effect, namely that the T = 12 K spectrum shows an unexpectedly large blue shift of 0.25 eV in the electron binding energy relative to the room temperature (RT) spectrum. Extensive theoretical analysis of the potential energy function (PEF) of the cluster at the CCSD(T) level of theory reveals the existence of two nearly isoenergetic isomers corresponding to H2O forming a H-bond with either the C or the N atom, respectively. This results in four topologically distinct minima, i.e., CN(-)(H(a)OH(b)), CN(-)(H(b)OH(a)), NC(-)(H(a)OH(b)), and NC(-)(H(b)OH(a)). There are two main pathways connecting these minima: (i) CN- tumbling relative to water and (ii) water rocking relative to CN-. The relative magnitude of the barriers associated with these two motions reverses between low (pathway i is preferred) and high (pathway ii is preferred) temperatures. As a result, at T = 12 K the cluster adopts a structure that is close to the minimum energy CN(-)(H2O) configuration, while at RT it can effectively access regions of the PEF close to the transition state for pathway ii, explaining the surprisingly large spectral shift between the 12 K and RT PES spectra.

Bulk melting of ice at the limit of superheating.

The ice-water phase transition after an ultrafast temperature jump is studied in HDO:D2O (15 M) ice with use of 2-color IR spectroscopy. The OH-stretching vibration is applied for rapid heating of the sample and for fast and sensitive probing of local temperature and structure. For energy depositions beyond the limit of superheating (330 +/- 10 K) partial melting in two steps is observed and assigned to (i) catastrophic melting within the thermalization time of the excited ice lattice of 5 +/- 2 ps and (ii) secondary melting with a time constant of 33 +/- 5 ps that is assigned to interfacial melting at the generated phase boundaries. The latter process is found to consume energy amounts in agreement with the latent heat of melting and is accompanied by an accelerated temperature and pressure decrease of the residual ice component.