Control of charge migration in molecules by ultrashort laser pulses
Abstract
Due to electronic many-body effects, the ionization of a molecule can trigger ultrafast electron dynamics appearing as a migration of the created hole charge throughout the system. Here we propose a scheme to control the charge-migration dynamics with a single ultrashort laser pulse. We demonstrate by fully ab initio calculations on a molecule containing a chromophore and amine moieties that simple pulses can be used to stop the charge-migration oscillations and localize the charge on the desired site of the system. We argue that this control may be used to predetermine the follow-up nuclear rearrangement and thus the molecular reactivity.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review A
- Pub Date:
- May 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevA.91.051401
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1502.05613
- Bibcode:
- 2015PhRvA..91e1401G
- Keywords:
-
- 33.80.Rv;
- 82.50.Nd;
- 31.15.A-;
- 82.37.Vb;
- Multiphoton ionization and excitation to highly excited states;
- Control of photochemical reactions;
- Ab initio calculations;
- Single molecule photochemistry;
- Physics - Chemical Physics;
- Physics - Atomic and Molecular Clusters;
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.91.051401