Ultrafast detection and control of molecular dynamics.
Many elementary chemical and physical processes such as the breaking of a chemical bond or the vibrational motion of atoms within a molecule take place on a femtosecond (fs = 10(-15)s) or picosecond (ps = 10(-12)s) time scale. It is now possible to monitor these events as a function of time with temporal resolution well below 100 fs. This capability is based on the pump-probe technique where one optical pulse triggers a reaction and a second delayed optical pulse probes the changes that ensue. To illustrate this capability, the dynamics of ligand motion within a protein are presented. Moving beyond casual observation of a reaction to active control of its outcome requires additional experimental and theoretical effort. To illustrate the concept of control, the effect of optical pulse duration on the vibrational dynamics of a tri-atomic molecule are discussed. The experimental and theoretical resources currently available are poised to make the dream of reaction control a reality for certain molecular systems.
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Building 5, Room 134, Bethesda, MD 20892-0520, USA.
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de Vivie-Riedle
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D000818:Animals; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D008024:Ligands; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000737:chemistry*; D010782:Photolysis; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
D008024:Ligands; D009211:Myoglobin; C018013:carboxymyoglobin; D002248:Carbon Monoxide