title: Influence of Förster-type energy transfer on the vibrational relaxation of anionic hydration shells.
abstract: We study the influence of Förster energy transfer on the vibrational relaxation dynamics of anionic hydration shells by performing time-resolved mid-infrared spectroscopy on the OH-stretch vibration of water molecules in aqueous solutions of sodium iodide. We observe that the Förster energy transfer leads to a pronounced acceleration of the vibrational relaxation. We describe the observed dynamics with a model in which we include the Förster vibrational energy transfer between the different hydroxyl groups in solution. With this model we can quantitatively describe the experimental data over a wide range of isotopic compositions and salt concentrations. Our results show that resonant energy transfer is an efficient mechanism assisting in the vibrational relaxation of anionic hydration shells.
authors.affiliation: FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands. lotze@amolf.nl
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lotze
authors.forename: Huib J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Bakker