Ultrafast Dynamics At The Nanoscale

Ultrafast Dynamics at the Nanoscale provides a combined experimental and theoretical insight into the molecular-level investigation of light-induced quantum processes in biological systems and nanostructured (bio)assemblies. Topics include DNA photostability and repair, photoactive proteins, biological and artificial light-harvesting systems, plasmonic nanostructures, and organic photovoltaic materials, whose common denominator is the key importance of ultrafast quantum effects at the border between the molecular scale and the nanoscale. The functionality and control of these systems have been under intense investigation in recent years in view of developing a detailed understanding of ultrafast nanoscale energy and charge transfer, as well as fostering novel technologies based on sustainable energy resources. Both experiment and theory have made big strides toward meeting the challenge of these truly complex systems. This book, thus, introduces the reader to cutting-edge developments in ultrafast nonlinear optical spectroscopies and the quantum dynamical simulation of the observed dynamics, including direct simulations of two-dimensional optical experiments. Taken together, these techniques attempt to elucidate whether the quantum coherent nature of ultrafast events enhances the efficiency of the relevant processes and where the quantum–classical boundary sets in, in these high-dimensional biological and material systems. The chapters contain well-illustrated accounts of the authors’ research work, including didactic introductory material, and address a multidisciplinary audience from chemistry, physics, biology, and materials sciences. The book is, therefore, a must-have for graduate- and postgraduate-level researchers who wish to learn about molecular nanoscience from a combined spectroscopic and theoretical viewpoint.

Primary events in natural systems or devices occur on extremely short time scales, and yet determine in many cases the final performance or output. For this reason research in ultrafast science is of primary importance and impact in both fundamental research as well as its applications. This book reviews the advances in the field, addressing timely and open questions such as the role of quantum coherence in biology, the role of excess energy in electron injection at photovoltaic interfaces or the dynamics in quantum confined structures (e.g. multi carrier generation). The approach is that of a monograph, with a broad tutorial introduction and an overview of the recent results. This volume includes selected lectures presented at Symposium on Ultrafast Dynamics of the 7th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies. Contents:Femtosecond Real-Time Vibrational Spectroscopy Using Ultrafast Laser Pulses (Takayoshi Kobayashi and Juan Du)Multidimensional Optical Spectroscopy Using a Pump-Probe Configuration: Some Implementation Details (Zhengyang Zhang and Howe-Siang Tan)High-Sensitivity Ultrafast Transient Absorption Spectroscopy of Organic Photovoltaic Devices (Alex J Barker, Kai Chen, Shyamal Prasad and Justin M Hodgkiss)Transient Absorption Data Analysis by Soft-Modelling (I A Howard, H Mangold, F Etzold, D Gehrig and F Laquai)Infrared Ultrafast Optical Probes of Photoexcitations in Π-Conjugated Polymers/Fullerene Blends for Photovoltaic Applications (C-X Sheng, U Huynh and Z V Vardeny)Ultrafast Optical Probing of Carrier Motion in Conjugated Polymers and Blends for Solar Cells (Vidmantas Gulbinas, Andrius Devizis, Domantas Peckus and Dirk Hertel)Singlet Fission in Organic Crystals (Lin Ma, Christian Kloc, Cesare Soci, Maria E Michel-Beyerle and Gagik G Gurzadyan)Mapping Carrier Diffusion in Single Silicon Core-Shell Nanowires with Ultrafast Optical Microscopy (Minah Seo, Jinkyoung Yoo, Shadi Dayeh, Julio Martinez, Brian Swartzentruber, Samuel Picraux, Antoinette Taylor and Rohit Prasankumar)Exciton Dynamics and Its Regulation Ability in Photosynthesis (V Balevicius, Jr, L Valkunas and D Abramavicius)Ultrafast Intramolecular Dynamics in Novel Star-Shaped Molecules for Photovoltaic Applications (Oleg V Kozlov, Yuriy N Luponosov, Sergei A Ponomarenko, Dmitry Yu Paraschuk, Nina Kausch-Busies and Maxim S Pshenichnikov)Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Interfaces and Its Application to Organic Electronics (Silvia G Motti, Francisco C B Maia and Paulo B Miranda)Photoinduced Charge Transfer Dynamics at HybridGaAs/P3HT Interfaces (Jun Yin, Manoj Kumar, Majid Panahandeh-Fard, Zilong Wang, Francesco Scotognella and Cesare Soci)The First Step in Vision: Visualizing Wavepacket Motion through a Conical Intersection (Dario Polli, Daniele Brida, Cristian Manzoni, Giulio Cerullo, Piero Altoe', Marco Garavelli, Oliver Weingart, Katelyn Spillane, Philipp Kukura and Richard A Mathies)Ultrafast Investigation of Energy and Charge Transfer in a Prototypical Photovoltaic Blend (Guglielmo Lanzani, Ajay Ram Srimath Kandada and Daniele Fazzi)Vacancy-Doped Plasmonic Copper Chalcogenide Nanocrystals with Tunable Optical Properties (Ilka Kriegel, Jessica Rodríguez-Fernández, Chengyang Jiang, Richard Schaller, Enrico Da Como, Dmitri V Talapin, Jochen Feldmann) Readership: Academics and professionals in the fields of physics, chemistry and material science. Keywords:Nanostructure;Interface;Semiconductor;Nanoelectronics;Optics;SurfaceReviews: “This book provides an excellent introduction to the basics of ultrafast dynamics, describes advanced experimental methods and important applications to biological, charge transfer, low-dimensional systems and others. It is highly recommended to researchers and graduate students in the field of ultrafast laser spectroscopy.” Prof. Alan Heeger Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2000

This up-to-date reference is the most comprehensive summary of the field of nanoscience and its applications. It begins with fundamental properties at the nanoscale and then goes well beyond into the practical aspects of the design, synthesis, and use of nanomaterials in various industries. It emphasizes the vast strides made in the field over the past decade – the chapters focus on new, promising directions as well as emerging theoretical and experimental methods. The contents incorporate experimental data and graphs where appropriate, as well as supporting tables and figures with a tutorial approach.

This 21st Century Nanoscience Handbook will be the most comprehensive, up-to-date large reference work for the field of nanoscience. Handbook of Nanophysics, by the same editor, published in the fall of 2010, was embraced as the first comprehensive reference to consider both fundamental and applied aspects of nanophysics. This follow-up project has been conceived as a necessary expansion and full update that considers the significant advances made in the field since 2010. It goes well beyond the physics as warranted by recent developments in the field. Key Features: Provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date large reference work for the field. Chapters written by international experts in the field. Emphasises presentation and real results and applications. This handbook distinguishes itself from other works by its breadth of coverage, readability and timely topics. The intended readership is very broad, from students and instructors to engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, biomedical researchers, industry professionals, governmental scientists, and others whose work is impacted by nanotechnology. It will be an indispensable resource in academic, government, and industry libraries worldwide. The fields impacted by nanoscience extend from materials science and engineering to biotechnology, biomedical engineering, medicine, electrical engineering, pharmaceutical science, computer technology, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, food science, and beyond.

This book presents the structure formation and dynamics of animate and inanimate matter on the nanometre scale. This is a new interdisciplinary field known as Meso-Bio-Nano (MBN) science that lies at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology and material science. Special attention in the book is devoted to investigations of the structure, properties and dynamics of complex MBN systems by means of photonic, electronic, heavy particle and atomic collisions. This includes problems of fusion and fission, fragmentation, surfaces and interfaces, reactivity, nanoscale phase and morphological transitions, irradiation-driven transformations of complex molecular systems, collective electron excitations, radiation damage and biodamage, channeling phenomena and many more. Emphasis in the book is placed on the theoretical and computational physics research advances in these areas and related state-of-the-art experiments. Particular attention in the book is devoted to the utilization of advanced computational techniques and high-performance computing in studies of the dynamics of systems.

Ever since the beginning of mankind's efforts to pursue scientific inquiry into the laws of nature, visualization of the very distant and the very small has been paramount. The examples are numerous. A century ago, the atom appeared mysterious, a “raisin or plum pie of no structure,” until it was visualized on the appropriate length and time scales. Similarly, with telescopic observations, a central dogma of the cosmos was changed and complexity yielded to simplicity of the heliocentric structure and motion in our solar system. For matter, in over a century of developments, major advances have been made to explore the inner microscopic structures and dynamics. These advances have benefited many fields of endeavor, but visualization was incomplete; it was limited either to the 3D spatial structure or to the 1D temporal evolution. However, in systems with myriads of atoms, 4D spatiotemporal visualization is essential for dissecting their complexity. The biological world is rich with examples, and many molecular diseases cannot be fully understood without such direct visualization, as, for example, in the case of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The same is true for phenomena in materials science, chemistry, and nanoscience. This anthology is an account of the collected works that have emerged over the past decade from Caltech. Through recent publications, the volume provides overviews of the principles, the electron-based techniques, and the applications made. Thanks to advances in imaging principles and technology, it is now possible with 4D electron microscopy to reach ten orders of magnitude improvement in time resolution while simultaneously conserving the atomic spatial resolution in visualization. This is certainly a long way from Robert Hooke's microscopy, which was recorded in his 1665 masterpiece Micrographia.

The first broad and in-depth overview of current research in attosecond nanophysics, covering the field of active plasmonics via attosecond science in metals and dielectrics to novel imaging techniques with the highest spatial and temporal resolution. The authors are pioneers in the field and present here new developments and potential novel applications for ultra-fast data communication and processing, discussing the investigation of the natural timescale of electron dynamics in nanoscale solid state systems. Both an introduction for starting graduate students, as well as a look at the current state of the art in this hot and emerging field.