Ultrafast dynamics

Speaker(s):

Ofer Kfir

Dates:

Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

Generation of high harmonics of light fields had led to numerous scientific and technological advancements since its discovery 30 years ago, including attosecond spectroscopy of atoms, molecules and condensed matter and tabletop high-resolution imaging of nanostructures. However, the polarization state of high harmonics was essentially limited to linear, which prevented experimental access to the role of photon-spin in harmonic generation, and hindered the use of high harmonic radiation for chiro-optical investigation with magnetic and other chiral matter.
My talk...

Frederick Kaufman Lecture Series Peter Hamm (University of Zurich): It’s All About Water

Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy, and in particular its extension to multidimensional techniques, can tell us a lot about solvation dynamics, structural dynamics and energy transfer processes of solution phase molecular systems. I will illustrate applications of these spectroscopies by discussing a couple of quite diverse examples that lie at the interface between Physics, Biology and Chemistry. In different ways, these examples highlight the importance of water as a very special substance. That is, I will start out with the ultrafast structural dynamics of bulk water and concentrated salt solution observed by THz photon echoes (Physics), continue with the catalytic cycle of an artificial photosynthetic system designed for light-driven water splitting (Chemistry), and finally discuss the response of an allosteric protein upon an external perturbation (Biology). Also the latter is in fact dictated by the dynamics of the water solvation layer.

Hrvoje Petek and Jin Zhao Awarded $675,000 Grant From NSF

By Aude Marjolin •
8 September 2016

Hrvoje Petek and Jin Zhao received a $675,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a proposal entitled “TiO₂ photocatalysis: the coupling of electrons, plasmons, polarons, and molecules by ultrafast photoemission spectroscopy and theory.”

This is a continuation of Petek’s and Zhao’s joint experimental/theoretical studies on femtosecond time scale photoinduced dynamics in the photocatalytically active material TiO₂. In this iteration of the continuing research effort, the focus is on how plasmonic excitations and ionic lattice response influence the interaction of photoexcited electrons with adsorbed molecules.

2D-Raman-THz Spectroscopy of Water and Salt Solutions

Fall 2016

Kaufman Lecture

Ultrafast dynamics

Speaker(s):

Peter Hamm

Dates:

Friday, October 14, 2016 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm

It’s All About Water

Fall 2016

Kaufman Lecture

Ultrafast dynamics

Speaker(s):

Peter Hamm

Dates:

Thursday, October 13, 2016 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm

Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy, and in particular its extension to multidimensional techniques, can tell us a lot about solvation dynamics, structural dynamics and energy transfer processes of solution phase molecular systems. I will illustrate applications of these spectroscopies by discussing a couple of quite diverse examples that lie at the interface between Physics, Biology and Chemistry. In different ways, these examples highlight the importance of water as a very special substance. That is, I will start out with the ultrafast structural dynamics of...

Hrvoje Petek Awarded Grant from NSFC for Research on Ultrafast Dynamics on TiO2 Surfaces

By Aude Marjolin •
21 July 2016

Hrvoje Petek and his collaborator Jin Zhao of the Department of Physics at the University of Science & Technology of China recieved a Natural National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Keystone Project funding of 3,000,000 yuan (approximately $450,000) for a joint international research project on "Ultrafast Dynamics on TiO₂ Surfaces".