Multi-electron dissociative ionization of clusters under picosecond and femtosecond laser irradiation: the case of alkyl-halide clusters

The multi-electron dissociative ionization (MEDI) of alkyl-halide clusters induced by 35 ps (at 266, 532 and 1064 nm) and 20 fs (at 400 and 800 nm) laser pulses is reported. In most cases, the MEDI of clusters is observed at substantially lower laser intensities than those reported for the monomer molecules, while the fragment ions are released with higher kinetic energies. From the comparative analysis of the experimental data, is concluded that the increase of molecular chain and/or the presence of a lighter halogen (I, Br, Cl) in the molecular skeleton results in the increase of the laser intensity thresholds for the appearance of the singly and multiply charged fragment ions. As far as the angular distributions of the ejected ions are concerned, they are found to be dependent on the laser pulse duration. For the observed experimental data, a physical mechanism is proposed, based on the combined action of the laser and the electric field created within the clusters after their single ionization.     

Distinguishing metal halide molecular clusters from perovskite magic sized clusters in the synthesis of metal halide perovskite nanostructures

Background

Research into perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) has uncovered interesting properties compared to their bulk counterparts, including tunable optical properties due to size-dependent quantum confinement effect (QCE). More recently, smaller PNCs with even stronger QCE have been discovered, such as perovskite magic sized clusters (PMSCs) and ligand passivated PbX₂ metal halide molecular clusters (MHMCs) analogous to perovskites.

Objective

This review aims to present recent data comparing and contrasting the optical and structural properties of PQDs, PMSCs, and MHMCs, where CsPbBr₃ PQDs have first excitonic absorption around 520 nm, the corresponding PMSCS have absorption around 420 nm, and ligand passivated MHMCs absorb around 400 nm.

Results

Compared to normal perovskite quantum dots (PQDs), these clusters exhibit both a much bluer optical absorption and emission and larger surface-to-volume (S/V) ratio. Due to their larger S/V ratio, the clusters tend to have more surface defects that require more effective passivation for stability.

Conclusion

Recent study of novel clusters has led to better understanding of their properties. The sharper optical bands of clusters indicate relatively narrow or single size distribution, which, in conjunction with their blue absorption and emission, makes them potentially attractive for applications in fields such as blue single photon emission.     

Hydrogen bonds in gas-phase clusters between halide ions and olefins

Gas-phase clustering reactions of halide ions (X- = F-, Cl-, Br-, and I-) with ethylene (C2H4) and propylene (C3H6) were studied with a pulsed electron beam mass spectrometer. Bonding energies of all cluster ions were found to be less than 10 kcal/mol, i.e., no anion-initiated polymerization of C2H4 and C3H6 took place. For the cluster F-(C2H4)n, a small gap in the binding energy is observed between n = 4 and 5 suggesting that the first shell is completed with n = 4. For larger halide ions, the bond energies for the clusters X-(C2H4)n were found to be nearly n independent. For Cl-(C3H6)n a steep decrease in binding energies was observed between n = 2 and 3 and n = 3 and 4. The structure of the cluster ions was investigated by ab initio calculations. X-(C2H4)n complexes were calculated to have hydrogen-bond geometries regardless of the identity of the halide ions, and bidentate (chelate) type geometries of X-(C3H6)1 were found.     

Multiphoton ionization versus dissociation of diatomic molecules irradiated by an intense 40 ps laser pulse

The production of molecular and atomic ions has been measured for CO, N₂ and O₂ with 1064 and 532 nm 40 ps pulses in the 10¹²-10¹⁴ W cm^?2 intensity range. A simultaneous ionization-dissociation process occurs at lower intensities, while a sequential process appears in oxygen at higher intensities.     

Adiabatic squeezing of molecular wave packets by laser pulses

Strong pulse sequences can be used to control the position and width of the molecular wave packet. In this paper we propose a new scheme to maximally compress the wave packet in a quasistatic way by freezing it at a peculiar adiabatic potential shaped by two laser pulses. The dynamic principles of the scheme and the characteristic effect of the different control parameters are presented and analyzed. We use two different molecular models, electronic potentials modeled by harmonic oscillators, with the same force constants, and the Na(2) dimer, to show the typical yield that can be obtained in compressing the initial (minimum width) molecular wave function.     

Two-body Coulomb explosion and hydrogen migration in methanol induced by intense 7 and 21 fs laser pulses

Two-body Coulomb explosion with the C-O bond breaking of methanol induced by intense laser pulses with the duration of Delta t=7 and 21 fs is investigated by the coincidence momentum imaging method. When Delta t=7 fs, the angular distribution of recoil vectors of the fragment ions for the direct C-O bond breaking pathway, CH(3)OH(2+)-->CH(3) (+)+OH(+), exhibits a peak deflected from the laser polarization direction by 30 degrees -45 degrees , and the corresponding angular distribution for the migration pathway, CH(2)OH(2) (+)-->CH(2) (+)+H(2)O(+), in which one hydrogen migrates from the carbon site to the oxygen site prior to the C-O bond breaking, exhibits almost the same profile. When the laser pulse duration is stretched to Delta t=21 fs, the angular distributions for the direct and migration pathways exhibit a broad peak along the laser polarization direction probably due to the dynamical alignment and/or the change in the double ionization mechanism; that is, from the nonsequential double ionization to the sequential double ionization. However, the extent of the anisotropy in the migration pathway is smaller than that in the direct pathway, exhibiting a substantial effect of hydrogen atom migration in the dissociative ionization of methanol interacting with the linearly polarized intense laser field.     

Time- and frequency-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy with sub-25 fs laser pulses

In general, many different diagrams can contribute to the signal measured in broadband four-wave mixing experiments. Care must therefore be taken when designing an experiment to be sensitive to only the desired diagram by taking advantage of phase matching, pulse timing, sequence, and the wavelengths employed. We use sub-25 fs pulses to create and monitor vibrational wavepackets in gaseous iodine, bromine, and iodine bromide through time- and frequency-resolved femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy. We experimentally illustrate this using iodine, where the broad bandwidths of our pulses, and Boltzmann population in the lower three vibrational levels conspire to make a single diagram dominant in one spectral region of the signal spectrum. In another spectral region, however, the signal is the sum of two almost equally contributing diagrams, making it difficult to directly extract information about the molecular dynamics. We derive simple analytical expressions for the time- and frequency-resolved CARS signal to study the interplay of different diagrams. Expressions are given for all five diagrams which can contribute to the CARS signal in our case.     

Explosive desorption and fragmentation of molecular ion from solid fullerene by intense nonresonant femtosecond laser pulses

Desorption of C 60 (+) and its dimer cation was investigated on irradiation with nonresonant femtosecond laser pulses at 1.4 mum. Ionization of solid C 60 revealed strikingly different features, such as the absence of multiply charged molecular ions, the emission of C (+) at low laser intensity, C 2 attachments, delayed ionization, and dimer cation formation, as compared with the gas phase experiments. The large kinetic energy distribution of ions found in this study indicated that the desorption process was mainly driven by an electrostatic mechanism rather than by thermal, photochemical, or volume expansion mechanisms. Singly charged C 60 emission by a Coulomb explosion due to the high density of C 60 (+) is suggested.     

Formation of novel rare-gas-containing molecules by molecular photodissociation in clusters

Recent work by R?s?nen and coworkers showed that photolysis of hydrides in rare-gas matrices results in part in formation of novel, rare-gas-containing molecules. Thus, photolysis of HCl in Xe and of H2O in Xe result respectively in formation of HXeCl and HXeOH in the Xe matrices. Ab initio calculations show that the compounds HRgY so formed are stable in isolation, and that by the strength and nature of the bonding these are molecules, very different from the corresponding weakly bound clusters Rg...HY. This paper presents a study of the formation mechanism of HRgY following the photolysis of HY in clusters Rgn(HY). Calculations are described for HXeCl, as a representative example. Potential energy surfaces that govern the formation of HXeCl in the photolysis of HCl in xenon clusters are obtained, and the dynamics on these surfaces is analyzed, partly with insight from trajectories of molecular dynamics simulations. The potential surfaces are obtained by a new variant of the DIM (diatomics in molecules) and DIIS (diatomics in ionic systems) models. Non-adiabatic couplings are also obtained. The main results are: (1) Properties of HXeCl predicted by the DIM-DIIS model are in reasonable accord with results of ab initio calculations. (2) The potential along the isomerization path HXeCl-->Xe...HCl predicted by DIM is in semiquantitative accord with the ab initio results. (3) Surface-hopping molecular dynamics simulations of the process in clusters, with "on the fly" calculations of the DIM-DIIS potentials and non-adiabatic couplings are computationally feasible. (4) Formation of HXeCl, following photolysis of HCl in Xe54(HCl), requires cage-exit of the H atom as a precondition. The H atom and the Cl can then attack the same Xe atom on opposite sides, leading to charge transfer and production of the ionic HXeCl. (5) Non-adiabatic processes play an important role, both in the reagent configurations, and at the charge-transfer stage. The results open the way to predictions of the formation of new HRgY species.     

Quantum control of a chiral molecular motor driven by laser pulses

"Molecular motors or machines" are one of the hot subjects in chemistry because they play an important role in molecular devices. We have theoretically demonstrated that unidirectional rotations of a chiral molecular motor can be driven by using tailored linearly polarized laser pulses. The findings obtained here serve as a theoretical basis for control of functions such as gearing or acceleration of molecular motors.     

Fluorescence quenching of coumarins by halide ions

Fluorescence quenching of 4-methyl-7-methoxy coumarin (1) and 4-methyl-5-ethoxy-7-methoxy coumarin (2) in aqueous solutions have been studied at different concentrations of halide ions (Cl-, Br-, I-), at room temperature approximately 20 degrees C. It is observed that the fluorescence intensity of both the coumarin compounds (1 and 2) decrease with increase in the concentration of Br- and I- ions but remains almost constant in case of Cl- ion. It is observed that the quenching due to halide ions proceeds via both a diffusional and static quenching processes. The rate constants for diffusional as well as static component of quenching process have been calculated using modified Stern-Volmer relation. It is further observed, that I- ion has very high quenching ability than Br- ion and Cl) ion almost behaves as a non-quencher. It is explained in terms of the sphere of action model by showing that the value of radius of sphere of action of the halide quencher is greater than the sum of the radii of the respective coumarin and quencher. Further, pattern of the quenching ability of the halide quenchers is found to be as I- > Br- > Cl- and interestingly this is in the same order as of their ionization energy. Finally, the present quenching process has been attributed to the electron transfer resulting between colliding species.     

Direct binding of halide ions by valinomycin

The antibiotic valinomycin is a potassium-selective ionophore, which increases the transport of potassium ions across cell membranes and thereby causes damage to bacteria cells. Valinomycin has been extensively studied as an ionophore for cations. We report for the first time the direct binding of anions to valinomycin using electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The binding selectivity for halide ions is found to be in the order Cl^? >Br^? ～F^? ?I^?  based on electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry experiments in methanol. ¹H NMR studies in acetone-d ₆ and CD₃CN reveal the binding selectivity of Cl^? >Br^? ?F^? ～I^? . NMR studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations support a bracelet-like structure for the binding of a chloride ion to valinomycin. Association constants of 531 ± 45 M^? 1 and 57 ± 2 M^? 1 were obtained via NMR titrations in acetone-d ₆ for chloride and bromide ions, respectively.     

A set of molecular models for alkali and halide ions in aqueous solution

This work presents new molecular models for alkali and halide ions in aqueous solution. The force fields were parameterized with respect to the reduced liquid solution density at 293.15 K and 1 bar, considering all possible ion combinations simultaneously. The experimental target data are reproduced with a high accuracy over a wide range of salinity. The ion models predict structural properties of electrolyte solutions well, such as pair correlation functions and hydration numbers. The force fields provide good predictions of the properties studied here in combination with different models for water.     

Energy pooling in multiple ionization and Coulomb explosion of clusters by nanosecond-long, megawatt laser pulses

We report the results of experiments that establish the possibility of bringing about multiple ionization and Coulomb explosion of molecular clusters with nanosecond laser pulses at intensities as small as 10(9) W cm(-2). We demonstrate several new facets of the laser-cluster interaction in the low-intensity, long-pulse domain: (i) The choice of laser wavelength for a given cluster species is very crucial. (ii) Excited electronic states play a very important role in the ionization dynamics. (iii) When field ionization is insignificant and ponderomotive energies are very small, it is energy pooling rather than inverse bremsstrahlung that determines how clusters absorb energy from the optical field.     

Determination of halide ions by cathodic stripping analysis

The determination of halide ions in aqueous solution by cathodic stripping analysis is discussed. It is shown that a linear response is obtained over the concentration range 2 x 10(-5)-10(-3)M for solutions containing only a single halide and that mixtures of halides can usually be analysed. Other interferences are also considered.     

Preparation and resolution of molecular states by coherent sequences of phase-locked ultrashort laser pulses

We study the application of nonlinear wave packet interferometry to the preparation and resolution of the overlaps of nonstationary nuclear wave functions evolving in an excited electronic state of a diatomic molecule. It is shown that possible experiments with two phase-locked ultrashort pulsepairs can be used to determine a specific vibrational wave packet state in terms of coherent states of the ground electronic state. We apply this scheme to an idealized molecule with harmonic potential energy surfaces and to the X <-- B transition states of the iodine molecule. Our results indicate that this scheme is very promising as a potential tool to quantum control.     

Manipulation of molecular rotational dynamics with multiple laser pulses

In this paper, a theoretical model is proposed to investigate the molecular rotational state populations pumped by multiple laser pulses through an impulsive Raman process based on second-order perturbation theory and an analytical solution for the dependence of the rotational state populations on the time delays and the relative amplitudes of the multiple laser pulses has been achieved. The results indicate that the molecular rotational state populations can be controlled by precisely manipulating the time delays and the relative amplitudes, which can be significantly enhanced or completely suppressed, and so the molecular rotational wave packet and field-free molecular alignment can be efficiently manipulated.     

Metallic ions and clusters: Formation,energetics, and reaction

Several aspects of the properties of metal clusters and metals in cluster ions are discussed. In particular, results from our laboratory on the photoionization and reactions of sodium clusters, and the thermochemistry and formation of clusters containing metallic ions are presented.     

Copper halide clusters and polymers supported by bipodal heteroelemental ligands

The flexible, multi dentate, heteroelemental, dipodal ligands; bis(2pyridylthio)methane, (PyS)₂CH₂ (Py = pyridyl = C₅H₄N), (PymS)₂CH₂, bis(2pyrimidylthio)methane, and bipyrimidyldisulfide, (PymS)₂ (Pym = pyrimidine, C₄H₃N₂), were reacted with a series of copper precursors to determine whether monomeric compounds, cubane clusters or polymeric chains would be obtained. Copper(II) chloride, copper(I) cyanide and copper(I) thiocyanate afforded infinite polymeric chains while copper(I) iodide afforded tetranuclear clusters supported by two ligand molecules. All products were characterized in the solid-state by X-ray crystallography.