Femtosecond relaxation dynamics of solvated electrons in liquid ammonia

The ultrafast relaxation dynamics of the well-known solvated electron in liquid ammonia solutions are investigated with femtosecond near-infrared pump-probe absorption spectroscopy. Immediately after photoexcitation, the dynamic absorption spectrum of the electron is substantially red-shifted with respect to its stationary spectrum. A subsequent dynamic blue shift of the pump-probe spectrum occurs on a timescale of 150 fs. The data are understood in terms of ground-state "cooling" and can be quantitatively simulated by an intuitive temperature-jump model employing a dynamically evolving Kubo line shape for the electronic resonance. A simple estimate implies that, on average, the electron in the liquid is coordinated to six nearest-neighbor ammonia molecules. An equivalent analysis of the data based on a bubble-formation/cavity-contraction mechanism is briefly outlined.