title: Ultrafast vibrational energy transfer between surface and bulk water at the air-water interface.
abstract: We report a femtosecond time-resolved study of water at the neat water-air interface. The O-H stretch vibrational lifetime of hydrogen-bonded interfacial water is measured using surface-specific 4th-order nonlinear optical spectroscopy with femtosecond infrared pulses. The vibrational lifetime in the frequency range of 3200 to 3500 cm(-1) is found to closely resemble that of bulk water, indicating ultrafast exchange of vibrational energy between surface water molecules and those in the bulk.
authors.affiliation: FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.forename: Avishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sterrer
authors.forename: Michiel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Mischa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonn
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D003903:Deuterium / Q000737:chemistry; D004735:Energy Transfer; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D003903:Deuterium