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Method Article
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 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 ("wave packet") 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.
Since the invention of the laser in 1960'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's that direct manipulation of coherent vibrational states, or "wave packets", enabled successful control over bond cleavage and other objectives6,7,8. Pump-probe measurements, wherein the "pump" pulse prepares an excited state or ion that is subsequently excited by a time-delayed "probe" 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 "cold" 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 "wave packets", 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 >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 µJ, 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 µm) than the probe beam (30 µm), 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" 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.
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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’s instructions or user’s manual. Laser safety goggles designed for the operating laser intensities and wavelengths should be worn.
1. Construction of TOF-MS26
2. Construction of Optical Pump and Probe Paths
Note: A diagram of the pump and the probe optical paths is given in Figure 1.
3. Preliminary Measurements
Note: All data in our experiments were acquired using codes written in-house with commercial instrument control software (Table of Materials). All instrument driver software was obtained from the respective manufacturer.
4. Pump-probe Measurements
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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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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
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The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office through Contract W911NF-18-1-0051.
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Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
Mass spectrometer components | |||
TOF lens stack and flight tube assembly | Jordan TOF Products, Inc. | C-677 | |
18 mm Z-gap detector assembly | Jordan TOF Products, Inc. | C-701Z | |
TOF high voltage power supply | Jordan TOF Products, Inc. | D-603 | |
Vacuum system components | |||
Rotary vane backing pump | Edwards Vacuum LLC | RV12 | |
Turbomolecular pumps (2) | Edwards Vacuum LLC | EXT255H | |
Turbomolecular pump controllers (2) | Edwards Vacuum LLC | EXC300 | |
Pressure gauge | Edwards Vacuum LLC | AIGX-S-DN40CF | |
Chiller for water cooling | Neslab | CFT-25 | |
Femtosecond laser system | |||
Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier | Coherent, Inc. | Astrella | oscillator and amplifier in a single integrated system |
Optical Parametric Amplifer (OPA) | Light Conversion | TOPAS Prime | |
Motion control | |||
Motorized linear translation stage 1" travel | Thorlabs | Z825B | |
controller for linear translation stage | Thorlabs | KDC 101 | |
USB controller hub and power supply | Thorlabs | KCH 601 | |
Manual linear translation stage 1" travel | Thorlabs | PT1 | |
Detectors | |||
Pyroelectric laser energy meter | Coherent, Inc. | 1168337 | |
Thermal laser power meter | Coherent, Inc. | 5356E16R | |
Si-biased detector 200-1100 nm | Thorlabs | DET10A | |
Compact USB CMOS Camera | Thorlabs | DCC1545M | |
USB spectrometer | Ocean Optics | HR4000 | |
1 GHz digital oscilloscope | LeCroy | WaveRunner 610Zi | |
Optics | |||
Type 1 BBO crystal | Crylight Photonics | BBO007 | aperture and thickness may be customized |
Achromatic half wave plate, 1100-2000 nm | Thorlabs | AHWP05M-1600 | |
Wollaston prism polarizer | Thorlabs | WPM10 | |
Hollow retro-reflector | PLX, Inc. | OW-20-1C | |
Variable neutral density filter | Thorlabs | NDC-100C-2 | |
Longpass dichroic mirror 2" diameter | Thorlabs | DMLP950L | |
Software | |||
Digital Camera image software | Thorlabs | ThorCam | |
Instrument communication interface | National Instruments | NI-MAX | |
Graphical development environment for measurement programs | National Instruments | LabVIEW | |
Data processing software | Mathworks | MATLAB |
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