Transient grating study of the intermolecular dynamics of liquid nitrobenzene

Femtosecond time-resolved transient grating(TG) technique is used to study the intermolecular dynamics in liquid phase. Non-resonant excitation of the sample by two crossing laser pulses results in a transient Kerr grating, and the molecular motion of liquid can be detected by monitoring the diffraction of a third time-delayed probe pulse. In liquid nitrobenzene(NB), three intermolecular processes are observed with lifetimes of 37.9±1.4 ps, 3.28±0.11 ps, and 0.44±0.03 ps, respectively. These relaxations are assigned to molecular orientational diffusion, dipole/induced dipole interaction, and libration in liquid cage, respectively. Such a result is slightly different from that obtained from OKE experiment in which the lifetime of the intermediate process is measured to be 1.9 ps. The effects of electric field on matter are different in TG and optical Kerr effect(OKE) experiments, which should be responsible for the difference between the results of these two types of experiments. The present work demonstrates that TG technique is a useful alternative in the study of intermolecular dynamics.