Thaler B, Meyer M, Heim P, Koch M. Long-Lived Nuclear Coherences inside Helium Nanodroplets.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2020;
124:115301. [PMID:
32242724 DOI:
10.1103/physrevlett.124.115301]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Much of our knowledge about dynamics and functionality of molecular systems has been achieved with femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy. Despite extensive technical developments over the past decades, some classes of systems have eluded dynamical studies so far. Here, we demonstrate that superfluid helium nanodroplets, acting as a thermal bath of 0.4 K temperature to stabilize weakly bound or reactive systems, are well suited for time-resolved studies of single molecules solvated in the droplet interior. By observing vibrational wave packet motion of indium dimers (In_{2}) for tens of picoseconds, we demonstrate that the perturbation imposed by this quantum liquid can be lower by a factor of 10-100 compared to any other solvent, which uniquely allows us to study processes depending on long nuclear coherence in a dissipative environment. Furthermore, tailor-made microsolvation environments inside droplets will enable us to investigate the solvent influence on intramolecular dynamics in a wide tuning range from molecular isolation to strong molecule-solvent coupling.
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