The 4th RAP Edge Photonics Seminar

Abstract

Chemical reactions and photoinduced processes in condensed phases proceed on high-dimensional potential energy surfaces, where electronic excitation, nuclear motion, and environmental fluctuations are intimately coupled. A comprehensive understanding of such dynamics requires tracking, with the highest possible temporal resolution, how electronic and vibrational structures evolve and how nuclear wavepackets propagate across these landscapes. This problem is further complicated in complex molecular systems such as proteins, where slow, large-amplitude structural fluctuations dynamically modulate the local reaction environment, giving rise to heterogeneous reactivity.

In this presentation, I will discuss how ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy using few-cycle pulses can probe femtosecond electronic and vibrational dynamics, as well as the propagation of nuclear wavepackets, in condensed-phase systems ranging from small molecules to proteins and functional materials. I will also briefly introduce our ongoing efforts to explore correlations between ultrafast dynamics and slower conformational and environmental fluctuations using single-molecule photon-correlation spectroscopy.