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Updated: May 28, 2026

Multimodal Nonlinear Hyperspectral Chemical Imaging Using Line-Scanning Vibrational Sum-Frequency Generation Microscopy
Published on: December 1, 2023
Ultrafast vibrational energy transfer at the water/air interface revealed by two-dimensional surface vibrational
Zhen Zhang1, Lukasz Piatkowski, Huib J Bakker
1FOM-Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Water is very different from liquids of similar molecular weight, and one of its unique properties is the very efficient transfer of vibrational energy between molecules, which arises as a result of strong dipole-dipole interactions between the O-H oscillators. Although we have a sound understanding of such energy transfer in bulk water, we know less about how, and how quickly, transfer occurs at its interface with a hydrophobic phase, because specifically addressing the outermost monolayer is difficult. Here, we use ultrafast two-dimensional surface-specific vibrational spectroscopy to probe the interfacial energy dynamics of heavy water (D(2)O) at the water/air interface. The measurements reveal the presence of surprisingly rapid energy transfer, both between hydrogen-bonded interfacial water molecules (intermolecular), and between O-D groups sticking out from the water surface and those located on the same molecule and pointing towards the water bulk (intramolecular). Vibrational energy transfer occurs on sub-picosecond timescales, and its rates and pathways can be quantified directly.
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