This work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office through Contract W911NF-18-1-0051.

NOTE: All commercially acquired instruments and parts such as the laser, vacuum pumps, chamber, time-of-flight tube and microchannel plate detector were installed and operated according to the manufacturer&#8217;s instructions or user&#8217;s manual. Laser safety goggles designed for the operating laser intensities and wavelengths should be worn.
1. Construction of TOF-MS26
<ol>
	<li>Design and build an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) chamber that has enough space to accommoda...

<ol>
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L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Following+dynamic+nuclear+wave+packets+in+N2,+O2+and+CO+with+few-cycle+infrared+pulses.">Following dynamic nuclear wave packets in N2, O2 and CO with few-cycle infrared pulses.</a> Physical Review A. 84 (4), 043410 (2011).</li><li>Bryan, W. A., McKenna, J., English, E. M. L., Wood, J., Calvert, C. R., Torres, R., Murphy, D. S., Turcu, I. C. E., Collier, J. L., McCann, J. F., Williams, I. D., Newell, W. 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T., Atabek, O., Keller, A., Serov, V., Johnsson, P., Swoboda, M., Remetter, T., L&#39;Huillier, A., Zherebtsov, S., Sansone, G., Benedetti, E., Ferrari, F., Nisoli, M., L&#233;pine, F., Kling, M. F., Vrakking, M. J. 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J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Strong+field+adiabatic+ionization+prepares+a+launch+state+for+coherent+control.">Strong field adiabatic ionization prepares a launch state for coherent control.</a> The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 5 (24), 4305-4309 (2014).</li><li>Tibbetts, K. M., Tarazkar, M., Bohinski, T., Romanov, D. A., Matsika, S., Levis, R. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Controlling+the+dissociation+dynamics+of+acetophenone+radical+cation+through+excitation+of+ground+and+excited+state+wavepacket.">Controlling the dissociation dynamics of acetophenone radical cation through excitation of ground and excited state wavepacket.</a> The Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. 48 (16), 164002 (2015).</li><li>Ampadu Boateng, D., Gutsev, G. L., Jena, P., Tibbetts, K. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Ultrafast+coherent+vibrational+dynamics+dynamics+in+dimethyl+methylphosphonate+radical+cation.">Ultrafast coherent vibrational dynamics dynamics in dimethyl methylphosphonate radical cation.</a> Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 20 (7), 4636-4640 (2018).</li><li>Ampadu Boateng, D., Gutsev, G. L., Jena, P., Tibbetts, K. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Dissociation+dynamics+of+3-+and+4-nitrotoluene+radical+cations:+Coherently+driven+C-NO2+bond+homolysis.">Dissociation dynamics of 3- and 4-nitrotoluene radical cations: Coherently driven C-NO2 bond homolysis.</a> The Journal of Chemical Physics. 148 (13), 134305 (2018).</li><li>Markevitch, A. N., Romanov, D. A., Smith, S. M., Schlegel, H. B., Ivanov, M. 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This protocol enables us to resolve ultrafast vibrational dynamics in polyatomic radical cations through selective preparation of the ions in the ground electronic state. While the standard strong-field ionization procedure using 800 nm can prepare vibrational coherences in ground-electronic state radical cations of first-row diatomics10,11,12,13 and CO214<sup...

Since the invention of the laser in 1960&#39;s, the goal of selectively breaking chemical bonds in molecules has been a longstanding dream of chemists and physicists. The ability to tune both laser frequency and intensity was believed to enable direct cleavage of a target bond through selective energy absorbance at the associated vibrational frequency1,2,3,4. However, early experiments found that intramolecular vibrational redistribution of the absorbed energy throughout the molecule often resulted in non-selective cleavage of the weakest bond4,5. It was not until the development of femtosecond pulsed lasers and the pump-probe technique6 in the late 1980&#39;s that direct manipulation of coherent vibrational states, or &#34;wave packets&#34;, enabled successful control over bond cleavage and other objectives6,7,8. Pump-probe measurements, wherein the &#34;pump&#34; pulse prepares an excited state or ion that is subsequently excited by a time-delayed &#34;probe&#34; pulse, remain one of the most widely used techniques for studying ultrafast processes in molecules9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20.
A significant limitation to studying the ultrafast dissociation dynamics of polyatomic radical cations using pump-probe excitation coupled to mass spectrometric detection arises from nonselective fragmentation of the target molecule by the ionizing pump pulse at the Ti:Sapphire wavelength of 800 nm21,22,23. This excess fragmentation results from nonadiabatic multiphoton ionization and can be mitigated by shifting the excitation wavelength into the near-infrared (e.g., 1200-1500 nm)22,23,24,25. At these longer wavelengths, the contribution of adiabatic electron tunneling increases relative to multiphoton excitation in the ionization process22,23. Adiabatic tunneling imparts little excess energy to the molecule and forms predominantly &#34;cold&#34; ground state molecular ions19,22,23. Our previous work has demonstrated that the use of near-infrared excitation significantly improves the preparation of coherent vibrational excitations, or &#34;wave packets&#34;, in polyatomic radical cations as compared to 800 nm excitation19,20. This work will illustrate the difference between strong-field ionization dominated by multiphoton and tunneling contributions with pump-probe measurements taken on the chemical warfare agent simulant dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) using 1500 nm and 800 nm pump wavelengths.
In our pump-probe experiments, a pair of ultrashort laser pulses is time-delayed, recombined, and focused into a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, as shown in our setup in Figure 1. These experiments require a Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier producing &#62;2 mJ, 800 nm, 30 fs pulses. The amplifier output is split on a 90:10 (%R:%T) beam splitter, where most of the energy is used to pump an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) for generation of 1200 - 1600 nm, 100 - 300 &#181;J, 20 - 30 fs pulses. The diameter of the IR pump beam is expanded to 22 mm and the diameter of the 800 nm probe beam down-collimated to 5.5 mm and cored using an iris. These collimations result in the pump beam focusing to a significantly smaller beam waist (9 &#181;m) than the probe beam (30 &#181;m), thereby ensuring that all ions formed during the ionizing pump pulse are excited by the time-delayed probe pulse. This configuration is used because the goal of our experiments is to probe the dynamics of the parent molecular ion, which may be formed even at lower intensities near the edges of the focused beam. We note that if the dynamics of more highly-excited ionic species are of interest, then the probe beam diameter should be made smaller than that of the pump.
The pump and probe pulses propagate collinearly and are focused into the extraction region of a Wiley-McLaren time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS)26 (Figure 2). Molecular samples placed in a vial are attached to the inlet and opened to the vacuum. This setup requires that the molecule under investigation have a nonzero vapor pressure; for molecules with low vapor pressure, the vial may be heated. The flow of gaseous sample into the chamber is controlled by two variable leak valves. The sample enters the chamber through a 1/16&#34; stainless steel tube approximately 1 cm away from the laser focus (Figure 2) in order to deliver a locally high concentration of target molecule in the extraction region27. The extraction plate has a 0.5 mm slit oriented orthogonal to the laser propagation and ion paths. Because the Rayleigh range of the pump beam is approximately 2 mm, this slit serves as a filter, allowing only ions generated from the central focal volume where the intensity is highest to pass through the extraction plate28. The ions enter a 1 m field-free drift tube to reach the Z-gap micro channel plate (MCP) detector29, where they are detected and recorded with a 1 GHz digital oscilloscope at the 1 kHz repetition rate of typical commercial Ti:Sapphire lasers.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Mass spectrometer components</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>TOF lens stack and flight tube assembly</td>
			<td>Jordan TOF Products, Inc.</td>
			<td>C-677</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>18 mm Z-gap detector assembly</td>
			<td>Jordan TOF Products, Inc.</td>
			<td>C-701Z</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>TOF high voltage power supply</td>
			<td>Jordan TOF Products, Inc.</td>
			<td>D-603</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Vacuum system components</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rotary vane backing pump</td>
			<td>Edwards Vacuum LLC</td>
			<td>RV12</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Turbomolecular pumps (2)</td>
			<td>Edwards Vacuum LLC</td>
			<td>EXT255H</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Turbomolecular pump controllers (2)</td>
			<td>Edwards Vacuum LLC</td>
			<td>EXC300</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pressure gauge</td>
			<td>Edwards Vacuum LLC</td>
			<td>AIGX-S-DN40CF</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Chiller for water cooling</td>
			<td>Neslab</td>
			<td>CFT-25</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Femtosecond laser system</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier</td>
			<td>Coherent, Inc.</td>
			<td>Astrella</td>
			<td>oscillator and amplifier in a single integrated system</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Optical Parametric Amplifer (OPA)</td>
			<td>Light Conversion</td>
			<td>TOPAS Prime</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Motion control</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Motorized linear translation stage 1&#34; travel</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>Z825B</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>controller for linear translation stage</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>KDC 101</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>USB controller hub and power supply</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>KCH 601</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Manual linear translation stage 1&#34; travel</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>PT1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Detectors</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pyroelectric laser energy meter</td>
			<td>Coherent, Inc.</td>
			<td>1168337</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Thermal laser power meter</td>
			<td>Coherent, Inc.</td>
			<td>5356E16R</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Si-biased detector 200-1100 nm</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>DET10A</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Compact USB CMOS Camera</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>DCC1545M</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>USB spectrometer</td>
			<td>Ocean Optics</td>
			<td>HR4000</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>1 GHz digital oscilloscope&#160;</td>
			<td>LeCroy</td>
			<td>WaveRunner 610Zi</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Optics</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Type 1 BBO crystal</td>
			<td>Crylight Photonics</td>
			<td>BBO007</td>
			<td>aperture and thickness may be customized</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Achromatic half wave plate, 1100-2000 nm</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>AHWP05M-1600</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Wollaston prism polarizer</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>WPM10</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hollow retro-reflector</td>
			<td>PLX, Inc.</td>
			<td>OW-20-1C</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Variable neutral density filter</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>NDC-100C-2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Longpass dichroic mirror 2&#34; diameter</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>DMLP950L</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Software</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Digital Camera image software</td>
			<td>Thorlabs</td>
			<td>ThorCam</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Instrument communication interface</td>
			<td>National Instruments</td>
			<td>NI-MAX</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Graphical development environment for measurement programs</td>
			<td>National Instruments</td>
			<td>LabVIEW</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Data processing software</td>
			<td>Mathworks</td>
			<td>MATLAB</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

measurement of ultrafast vibrational coherences in polyatomic radical cations with strong-field adiabatic ionization

We present a pump-probe method for preparing vibrational coherences in polyatomic radical cations and probing their ultrafast dynamics. By shifting the wavelength of the strong-field ionizing pump pulse from the commonly used 800 nm into the near-infrared (1200-1600 nm), the contribution of adiabatic electron tunneling to the ionization process increases relative to multiphoton absorption. Adiabatic ionization results in predominant population of the ground electronic state of the ion upon electron removal, which effectively prepares a coherent vibrational state (&#34;wave packet&#34;) amenable to subsequent excitation. In our experiments, the coherent vibrational dynamics are probed with a weak-field 800 nm pulse and the time-dependent yields of dissociation products measured in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. We present the measurements on the molecule dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) to illustrate how using 1500 nm pulses for excitation enhances the amplitude of coherent oscillations in ion yields by a factor of 10 as compared to 800 nm pulses. This protocol may be implemented in existing pump-probe setups through the incorporation of an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) for wavelength conversion.

Results obtained for the molecule DMMP21 are presented. Figure 3 shows the DMMP mass spectra taken at zero time-delay with the peak intensities of the 1500 nm pump and 800 nm probe pulses being 8 x 1013 and 8 x 1012 W cm-2, respectively. For reference, the mass spectrum taken with only the pump pulse is also shown. The spectra are averaged over 10,000 laser shots (total acquisition time 12 s). The incre...

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Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization

We present a protocol for probing ultrafast vibrational coherences in polyatomic radical cations that result in molecular dissociation.

We present a pump-probe method for preparing vibrational coherences in polyatomic radical cations and probing their ultrafast dynamics. By shifting the ...

This method can help answer key questions about the ultra fast dynamics of polyatomic radical cations such as whether coherent vibrational motions are excited and how coherent exotation drives bond association. The main advantage of this technique is that polyatomic radical cations may be prepared in the ground electronic state, which significantly improves the ability to resolve coherent vibrational motions. Generally, individuals new to this method would struggle with setting up two independent beam path with identical path name in ensuring that the two beams propagate exactly parallelly or collinearly when necessary.First, turn the femtosecond laser on and wait for about 30 minutes for it to stabilize. Position a 90/10 beam splitter after the laser output to generate two replica, which will be used to construct the pump and probe beam lines. Check the laser power before the beam splitter and the power of the transmitted beam to ensure that approximately 10%of the power is transmitted.Direct the reflected beam into the optical parametric amplifier. Then, optimize the output power using the procedures in the manual. Next, set the optical parametric amplifier software to select the desired wavelength.Direct the output beam from the optical parametric amplifier through the half wave plate and polarizer. Block the P polarized beam and direct the S polarized beam to the concave and convex mirrors to expand its diameter by a factor of five. Then, direct the expanded beam to the dichroic mirror.To prepare the probe optical path, direct the beam that passes through the 90/10 beam splitter to the convex and concave mirrors to reduce its diameter by a factor of two. Direct the down collimated beam to a hollow retroreflector mounted on a motorized linear delay stage. Adjust the mounting knobs of the two flat mirrors prior to the retro reflector to ensure that the beam position after the retroreflector does not change when the stage is moved along its full travel range.Next, insert a tunable neutral density filter after the delay stage to attenuate the power of the probe pulse, insert an iris after the neutral density filter to adjust the beam diameter, and direct the beam to the dichroic mirror. Now, insert a 15 millimeter diameter Beta-Barium Borate crystal after the dichroic mirror to double the wavelengths of both beams, thereby making them visible. Adjust the pump end probe beam alignments using the mirror mounts prior to the dichroic mirror such that the beams propagate collinearly through the TOFMS chamber and out from the other side.Following this, place a fast photo dio detector a few centimeters in front of the window entrance to the TOFMS chamber in the path of the pump end probe beams. Attach the detector cable to a digital oscilloscope and independently locate the signals of the pump end probe pulses. Adjust the position of the motorized delay stage on the probe line such that the pump end probe signals in the oscilloscope are temporally overlapped.If one signal is consistently in front of the other in the oscilloscope, move the mounts holding the motorized delay stage to shorten or lengthen the path length as needed. Then, remove the photodiode detector. Connect the desired sample to the TOFMS chamber and adjust the pressure.Turn on the TOFMS power supply and check the voltages. Verify the operability of the data acquisition software with respect to the communication with both the motorized delay stage and the oscilloscope. Unblock the pump end probe beams and ensure that they are aligned into the TOFMS chamber.Maximize the probe power by adjusting the neutral density filter. Set the pump power with the wave plate to a sufficiently high level to obtain satisfactory ion signal. Next, adjust the spacial position of the probe beam with the knobs on the dichroic mirror mount until either a spike in intensity of all ions is observed, or a significant depletion of the parent molecular ion and, or increase in fragment ion yields are observed.Adjust the motorized delay stage position to produce a spike in total ion signal, which corresponds to zero time delay. Adjust the pump end probe pulse energies to obtain desired ion signals. In the data acquisition software, specify the scan length and step size.Finally, run the data acquisition software to acquire the mass spectrum at each pump-probe delay. DMMP mass spectra taken at zero time delay and with only the pump pulse are shown here. There is little perceptible difference between the poorly overlapped and pump only spectra, which illustrates how to determine optimal spacial overlap of the pump end probe beams using the ion signals directly.Mass spectral data obtained from one pump-probe scan with the flight time on the abscissa and pump-probe delay on the ordinate are displayed here. The raw data illustrates how changes in ion signals with the pump-probe delay in these experiments can be visualized without additional data workup. Time resolved DMMP ion signals from one pump-probe scan with optimized and poor spacial overlap of pump end probe beams are shown here.These results illustrate the importance of optimizing the pump-probe spacial overlap to acquire high quality transient ion signals in the processed data. DMMP ion and the fragment PO2C2H4 ion transient ion signals taken using 800 nanometer and 1500 nanometer pump wave lengths are displayed here. The fast foray transform of the DMMP ion signals taken with 800 nanometer and 1500 nanometer pumps is shown here.The peak at 750 wave numbers visible for the 1500 nanometer pump illustrates the frequency resolution under the scan settings used. While attempting this procedure, it's important to remember to double check the spacial develop of the pump and the probe beams before recording any experimental data. Following this procedure, ab initio or density functional theory calculations can be performed in order to determine which vibrational modes are coherently excited, as well as identify the electronic energy level or levels accessed by the probe-pulse exotation.Don't forget that working with high powered lasers can be extremely hazardous and precautions such as wearing appropriate safety goggles should always be taken while performing this procedure.

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6.8K vistas.  Virginia Commonwealth University. This method can help answer key questions about the ultra fast dynamics of polyatomic radical cations such as whether coherent vibrational motions are excited and how coherent exotation drives bond association. The main advantage of this technique is that polyatomic radical cations may be prepared in the ground electronic state, which significantly improves the ability to resolve coherent vibrational motions. Generally, individuals new to this method would struggle with setting up two indepen...