Dissoziation dynamics of core-excited ionic molecular radicals

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Michael Martins
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 510114039

Within the project we will investigate the photoionisation and dissociation dynamics in isolated, chemical reactive, ionic molecular radicals following a site specific core excitation using soft x-rays. For this a unique combination of an intense molecular ion beam and tunable synchrotron radiation will be applied. Molecular ions are particularly interesting as they allow us to prepare well defined molecular radicals via their mass-over-charge ratio and to study their electronic structure via soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy.Here we will go a step further and study also completely unexplored dynamic processes in molecular radicals by differential X-ray absorption by measuring the kinetic-energy-release (KER) of photo fragments. These KER resolved experiments will allow us to address especially ultrafast dissociation processes on the timescale of a few femtoseconds in radicals.The focus will be on diatomic molecules with one hydrogen atom and the corresponding deuterated molecules, as in these molecules an ultrafast dissociation can be expected. The results will be relevant also for other fields of research. The applicability of the method for larger molecules will be tested for one three atomic molecule.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Denmark
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Henrik B. Pedersen