Hannover 2003 – scientific programme

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MO: Molekülphysik

MO 16: Ultraschnelle molekulare Dynamik

MO 16.6: Talk

Friday, March 28, 2003, 15:15–15:30, B 305

Probing Different Parts of the Excited State Surface of Azobenzene by Absorption and Fluorescence Techniques — •Peter Gilch¹, Helmut Satzger¹, Sebastian Spörlein¹, Christopher Root¹, Wolfgang Zinth¹, and Josef Wachtveitl² — ¹Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität,Oettingenstr. 67, D-80538 München, Germany — ²Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Universität Frankfurt am Main, Marie-Curie-Str. 11, D-60439-Frankfurt, Germany

Azobenzene is a prototypical molecule undergoing trans → cis and vice versa isomerisation in the excited state. The photoreactions in both directions are ultrafast, but there are qualitative differences between them. While the cis-isomer reacts essentially single-exponentially, the trans reaction has a pronounced bi-phasic behaviour. By combining results from femtosecond transient absorption measurements and steady state fluorescence spectroscopy different parts of the excited state surface could be explored. These results help to construct empirical surfaces which in turn yield a deeper understanding of the azobenzene photodynamics.