Selective excitation of adsorbate vibrations on dissipative surfaces
type: CreativeWork
description: The selective infrared (IR) excitation of molecular vibrations is a powerful tool to control the photoreactivity prior to electronic excitation in the ultraviolet / visible (UV/Vis) light regime ("vibrationally mediated chemistry"). For adsorbates on surfaces it has been theoretically predicted that IR preexcitation will lead to higher UV/Vis photodesorption yields and larger cross sections for other photoreactions. In a recent experiment, IR-mediated desorption of molecular hydrogen from a Si(111) surface on which atomic hydrogen and deuterium were co-adsorbed was achieved, following a vibrational mechanism as indicated by the isotope-selectivity. In the present work, selective vibrational IR excitation of adsorbate molecules, treated as multi-dimensional oscillators on dissipative surfaces, has been simulated within the framework of open-system density matrix theory. Not only potential-mediated, inter-mode coupling poses an obstacle to selective excitation but also the coupling of the adsorbate ("system") modes to the electronic and phononic degrees of freedom of the surface ("bath") does. Vibrational relaxation thereby takes place, depending on the availabilty of energetically fitting electron-hole (e/h) pairs and/or phonons (lattice vibrations) in the surface, on time-scales ranging from milliseconds to several hundreds of femtoseconds. On metal surfaces, where the relaxation process of the adsorbate via the e/h pair mechanism dominates, vibrational lifetimes are usually shorter than on insulator or semiconductor surfaces, in the range of picoseconds, being also the timescale of the IR pulses used here. Further inhibiting factors for selectivity can be the harmonicity of a mode and weak dipole activities ("dark modes") rendering vibrational excitation with moderate field intensities difficult. In addition to simple analytical pulses, optimal control theory (OCT) has been employed here to generate a suitable electric field to populate the target state/mode maxima…
abstract: The selective infrared (IR) excitation of molecular vibrations is a powerful tool to control the photoreactivity prior to electronic excitation in the ultraviolet / visible (UV/Vis) light regime ("vibrationally mediated chemistry"). For adsorbates on surfaces it has been theoretically predicted that IR preexcitation will lead to higher UV/Vis photodesorption yields and larger cross sections for other photoreactions. In a recent experiment, IR-mediated desorption of molecular hydrogen from a Si(111) surface on which atomic hydrogen and deuterium were co-adsorbed was achieved, following a vibrational mechanism as indicated by the isotope-selectivity. In the present work, selective vibrational IR excitation of adsorbate molecules, treated as multi-dimensional oscillators on dissipative surfaces, has been simulated within the framework of open-system density matrix theory. Not only potential-mediated, inter-mode coupling poses an obstacle to selective excitation but also the coupling of the adsorbate ("system") modes to the electronic and phononic degrees of freedom of the surface ("bath") does. Vibrational relaxation thereby takes place, depending on the availabilty of energetically fitting electron-hole (e/h) pairs and/or phonons (lattice vibrations) in the surface, on time-scales ranging from milliseconds to several hundreds of femtoseconds. On metal surfaces, where the relaxation process of the adsorbate via the e/h pair mechanism dominates, vibrational lifetimes are usually shorter than on insulator or semiconductor surfaces, in the range of picoseconds, being also the timescale of the IR pulses used here. Further inhibiting factors for selectivity can be the harmonicity of a mode and weak dipole activities ("dark modes") rendering vibrational excitation with moderate field intensities difficult. In addition to simple analytical pulses, optimal control theory (OCT) has been employed here to generate a suitable electric field to populate the target state/mode maxima…
author: Beyvers, Stephanie
keywords: IR-Anregung, Selektivität, Adsorbatschwingungen, Dichtematrixtheorie offener Systeme, Optimale Kontrolltheorie, IR excitation, selectivity, adsorbate vibrations, open system density matrix theory, optimal control theory
date published: 2008-10-29
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:51:27Z
provider: Universität Potsdam - Diss
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Universität Potsdam