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Published on: March 30, 2017
Exploring the Many-Body Dynamics Near a Conical Intersection with Trapped Rydberg Ions
Filippo M Gambetta1,2, Chi Zhang3, Markus Hennrich3
1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
Trapped Rydberg ions enable the study of conical intersections and their dynamics, offering a controllable platform to observe inhibited nuclear motion and electronic population changes in real-time.
Area of Science:
- Quantum chemistry
- Molecular dynamics
- Atomic, molecular, and optical physics
Background:
- Conical intersections are crucial for nonadiabatic processes in excited states of large molecules.
- Investigating these processes is challenging due to their femtosecond timescale, requiring ultrafast spectroscopy.
- Understanding these dynamics is key to controlling molecular behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate trapped Rydberg ions as a platform for engineering conical intersections.
- To simulate the dynamics of conical intersections on larger length and timescales.
- To investigate the effects of conical intersections on nuclear and electronic dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing trapped Rydberg ions to engineer potential energy surfaces.
- Tuning conical intersection properties via polarizability and dipolar exchange interactions.
- Employing state-of-the-art experimental setups for real-time monitoring.
Main Results:
- Successfully engineered conical intersections in a controllable Rydberg ion system.
- Simulated dynamics on nanometer length scales and microsecond timescales.
- Observed inhibition of nuclear motion due to the presence of conical intersections.
- Monitored real-time changes in electronic populations.
Conclusions:
- Trapped Rydberg ions provide a powerful, controllable platform for studying conical intersections and nonadiabatic dynamics.
- This system allows for the investigation of quantum phenomena on experimentally accessible scales.
- The findings offer new insights into controlling molecular dynamics through engineered potential energy surfaces.
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