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C-I bond extension and fission following ultraviolet (UV, 262 nm) photoexcitation of 2- and 3-iodothiophene is studied using ultrafast time-resolved extreme ultraviolet (XUV) ionization in conjunction with velocity map ion imaging. The photoexcited molecules and eventual I atom products are probed by site-selective ionization at the I 4d edge using intense XUV pulses, which induce multiple charges initially localized to the iodine atom. At C-I separations below the critical distance for charge transfer (CT), charge can redistribute around the molecule leading to Coulomb explosion and charged fragments with high kinetic energy. At greater C-I separations, beyond the critical distance, CT is no longer possible and the measured kinetic energies of the charged iodine atoms report on the neutral dissociation process. The time and momentum resolved measurements allow determination of the timescales and the respective product momentum and kinetic energy distributions for both isomers, which are interpreted in terms of rival 'direct' and 'indirect' dissociation pathways. The measurements are compared with a classical over the barrier model, which reveals that the onset of the indirect dissociation process is delayed by ∼1 ps relative to the direct process. The kinetics of the two processes show no discernible difference between the two parent isomers, but the branching between the direct and indirect dissociation channels and the respective product momentum distributions show isomer dependencies. The greater relative yield of indirect dissociation products from 262 nm photolysis of 3-iodothiophene ( cf. 2-iodothiophene) is attributed to the different partial cross-sections for (ring-centred) π∗ ← π and (C-I bond localized) σ∗ ← (n/π) excitation in the respective parent isomers.

Directly imaging structural dynamics involving hydrogen atoms by ultrafast diffraction methods is complicated by their low scattering cross sections. Here we demonstrate that megaelectronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction is sufficiently sensitive to follow hydrogen dynamics in isolated molecules. In a study of the photodissociation of gas phase ammonia, we simultaneously observe signatures of the nuclear and corresponding electronic structure changes resulting from the dissociation dynamics in the time-dependent diffraction. Both assignments are confirmed by ab initio simulations of the photochemical dynamics and the resulting diffraction observable. While the temporal resolution of the experiment is insufficient to resolve the dissociation in time, our results represent an important step towards the observation of proton dynamics in real space and time.

Recent developments in X-ray free-electron lasers have enabled a novel site-selective probe of coupled nuclear and electronic dynamics in photoexcited molecules, time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (TRXPS). We present results from a joint experimental and theoretical TRXPS study of the well-characterized ultraviolet photodissociation of CS 2 , a prototypical system for understanding non-adiabatic dynamics. These results demonstrate that the sulfur 2p binding energy is sensitive to changes in the nuclear structure following photoexcitation, which ultimately leads to dissociation into CS and S photoproducts. We are able to assign the main X-ray spectroscopic features to the CS and S products via comparison to a first-principles determination of the TRXPS based on ab initio multiple-spawning simulations. Our results demonstrate the use of TRXPS as a local probe of complex ultrafast photodissociation dynamics involving multimodal vibrational coupling, nonradiative transitions between electronic states, and multiple final product channels.

Filming atomic motion within molecules is an active pursuit of molecular physics and quantum chemistry. A promising method is laser-induced Coulomb Explosion Imaging (CEI) where a laser pulse rapidly ionizes many electrons from a molecule, causing the remaining ions to undergo Coulomb repulsion. The ion momenta are used to reconstruct the molecular geometry which is tracked over time (i.e., filmed) by ionizing at an adjustable delay with respect to the start of interatomic motion. Results are distorted, however, by ultrafast motion during the ionizing pulse. We studied this effect in water and filmed the rapid "slingshot" motion that enhances ionization and distorts CEI results. Our investigation uncovered both the geometry and mechanism of the enhancement which may inform CEI experiments in many other polyatomic molecules., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

We have observed details of the internal motion and dissociation channels in photoexcited carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) using time-resolved x-ray scattering (TRXS). Photoexcitation of gas-phase CS 2 with a 200 nm laser pulse launches oscillatory bending and stretching motion, leading to dissociation of atomic sulfur in under a picosecond. During the first 300 fs following excitation, we observe significant changes in the vibrational frequency as well as some dissociation of the C-S bond, leading to atomic sulfur in the both 1 D and 3 P states. Beyond 1400 fs, the dissociation is consistent with primarily 3 P atomic sulfur dissociation. This channel-resolved measurement of the dissociation time is based on our analysis of the time-windowed dissociation radial velocity distribution, which is measured using the temporal Fourier transform of the TRXS data aided by a Hough transform that extracts the slopes of linear features in an image. The relative strength of the two dissociation channels reflects both their branching ratio and differences in the spread of their dissociation times. Measuring the time-resolved dissociation radial velocity distribution aids the resolution of discrepancies between models for dissociation proposed by prior photoelectron spectroscopy work.

The structural dynamics of photoexcited gas-phase carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) molecules are investigated using ultrafast electron diffraction. The dynamics were triggered by excitation of the optically bright 1 B 2 ( 1 Σ u + ) state by an ultraviolet femtosecond laser pulse centred at 200 nm. In accordance with previous studies, rapid vibrational motion facilitates a combination of internal conversion and intersystem crossing to lower-lying electronic states. Photodissociation via these electronic manifolds results in the production of CS fragments in the electronic ground state and dissociated singlet and triplet sulphur atoms. The structural dynamics are extracted from the experiment using a trajectory-fitting filtering approach, revealing the main characteristics of the singlet and triplet dissociation pathways. Finally, the effect of the time-resolution on the experimental signal is considered and an outlook to future experiments provided.