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EnglishHighly excited molecular species are at play in the chemistry of interstellar media and are involved in the creation of radiation damage in a biological tissue. Recently developed ultrashort extreme ultraviolet light sources offer the high excitation energies and ultrafast time-resolution required for probing the dynamics of highly excited molecular states on femtosecond (fs) (1 fs=10−15s) and even attosecond (as) (1 as=10−18 s) timescales. Here we show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) undergo ultrafast relaxation on a few tens of femtoseconds timescales, involving an interplay between the electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. Our work reveals a general property of excited radical PAHs that can help to elucidate the assignment of diffuse interstellar absorption bands in astrochemistry, and provides a benchmark for the manner in which coupled electronic and nuclear dynamics determines reaction pathways in large molecules following extreme ultraviolet excitation.
| Titolo: | XUV excitation followed by ultrafast non-adiabatic relaxation in PAH molecules as a femto-astrochemistry experiment |
| Autori: | |
| Data di pubblicazione: | 2015 |
| Stato di pubblicazione: | Pubblicato |
| Rivista: | |
| Abstract: | Highly excited molecular species are at play in the chemistry of interstellar media and are involved in the creation of radiation damage in a biological tissue. Recently developed ultrashort extreme ultraviolet light sources offer the high excitation energies and ultrafast time-resolution required for probing the dynamics of highly excited molecular states on femtosecond (fs) (1 fs=10−15s) and even attosecond (as) (1 as=10−18 s) timescales. Here we show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) undergo ultrafast relaxation on a few tens of femtoseconds timescales, involving an interplay between the electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom. Our work reveals a general property of excited radical PAHs that can help to elucidate the assignment of diffuse interstellar absorption bands in astrochemistry, and provides a benchmark for the manner in which coupled electronic and nuclear dynamics determines reaction pathways in large molecules following extreme ultraviolet excitation. |
| Handle: | http://hdl.handle.net/11368/2945330 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8909 |
| URL: | https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8909 |
| Appare nelle tipologie: | 1.1 Articolo in Rivista |
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| File | Descrizione | Tipologia | Licenza | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ncomms8909.pdf | Documento in Versione Editoriale |  | Open Access Visualizza/Apri |
