SUB-PICOSECOND INTERSYSTEM CROSSINGS AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS: COMBINED ULTRAFAST OPTICAL AND X-RAY ABSORPTION STUDIES

The implementation of techniques such as X-ray and electron diffraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy in the ultrashort time domain has added the atomic scale structural information to the atomic scale temporal information already available from ultrafast laser spectroscopy.1,2 We will present different examples where the combination of optical and hard X-ray spectroscopies allowed us to obtain a complete picture of the dynamics of molecular processes in solutions. We will discuss the following examples: i) the photocycle of spin cross over Fe(II)-based molecular complexes3,4; ii) the dynamics of electronic solvation1,5; iii) bond formation in dinuclear complexes6. We will also discuss the ongoing extension of such studies to the soft X-ray domain.