European XFEL Science Seminar

Mapping chemical interaction and dynamics with femtosecond (soft) x-ray pulses

by Philippe Wernet (Institute for Methods and Instrumentation for Synchrotron Radiation Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie.)

Europe/Berlin
Room. E1.173 (European XFEL main building)

Room. E1.173

European XFEL main building

Description
I will present how we study chemical interactions and their ultrafast dynamics in transition-metal complexes and metalloproteins with soft x-ray spectroscopy. We use time-resolved and steady-state soft x-ray spectroscopy at synchrotron radiation sources, at x-ray free-electron lasers and in the laboratory. The importance of applying short x-ray pulses to the systems under investigation will be highlighted. I will discuss how we extract information on chemical properties based on the experimental observables, emphasize the importance of effective and efficient theoretical approaches and highlight the importance of choosing suitable sample preparation techniques and experimental procedures in general for avoiding x-ray beam damage of the samples.