Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 17: Experimental Techniques
MO 17.1: Invited Talk
Friday, March 10, 2017, 11:00–11:30, N 6
Molecular-Frame Photoelectron Imaging of Controlled Complex Molecules — •Joss Wiese1, Sebastian Trippel1, and Jochen Küpper1,2,3 — 1Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Hamburg — 2The Hamburg Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg — 3Department of Physics, University of Hamburg
Since chemical function arises from the interplay amongst valence electrons, a view at the evolution of the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) during a chemical reaction promises direct insight into the fundamentals of chemistry. We employ tomographic photoelectron imaging [1] of spatially controlled ensembles of indole and its 1:1 water complex strong-field ionised by intense near-infrared laser pulses. Reconstructed static three-dimensional photoelectron distributions in molecular-frame velocity space will be presented. These allow for the observation of the molecules’ electron density distributions, photoelectron kinetic energies, and off-molecular-plane emission angles in 3D. The experimentally retrieved observables are discussed employing an extended strong-field approximation model. Those three observables provide a close glimpse at the laser-distorted HOMO potential surfaces of the investigated molecules in the gas phase and yield access to their changes in polarisability and dipole moment upon ionisation. Furthermore, the direct comparison of indole and its water complex allows inspection of the nature of hydrogen bonding in heteroaromatic biomolecules.
[1] Maurer, Dimitrovski, Christensen, Madsen, Stapelfeldt, PRL 109, 123001 (2012)