Speaker
Description
Observing molecules in action through the recording of “molecular movies”, i.e.,
their spatiotemporal evolution during chemical dynamics, with atomic spatial and
temporal resolution promises to revolutionize our understanding of the molecular
sciences and to provide a time-dependent basis of chemistry. However, most
real-world chemistry occurs at or near room temperature, yet the ultrafast
dynamics of corresponding elementary chemical processes at this energy scale are
largely unexplored. We aim to change this [1].
Experimentally, we build upon our approaches to prepare highly controlled
samples that enable advanced imaging methods of individual molecular species and
directly in the molecular frame. We prepare highly-controlled molecular samples
for advanced ultrafast imaging experiments. This includes the preparation of
ensembles of individual molecular species, e.g., single microsolvation
environments, single conformers, or even single quantum states. Furthermore, the
generated very cold samples are ideally suited to fix the molecules in space in
laser-alignment or mixed-field orientation approaches.
I will discuss how we can utilize these highly controlled, ultracold samples to
investigate "room-temperature" chemical dynamics. I will present first
experimental results and discuss both the chemical information obtained as well
as the challenges ahead for disentangling ultrafast elementary steps of
general-chemistry in general.
[1] M. S. Robinson and J. Küpper, Unraveling the ultrafast dynamics of
thermal-energy chemical reactions, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 26, 1587 (2024).
| Keywords | Hydrogen bond: strong; State of system: gas |
|---|---|
| This abstract is submitted for.... | HBond 2025 conference |
