COMMENTARY COMMENTARY Photochemistry of highly excited states R. D. Levinea,b,c,1 These days on earth we are photochemically reasonably A forceful illustration of the benefits of the synergy of well shielded. The far UV radiation is filtered by the ozone experiment and theory in understanding the detailed and other components of the atmosphere. In the iono- electronic and nuclear dynamics in highly excited states is sphere and beyond there is much challenging chemistry provided by the very recent work reported by Peters et al. induced by such higher-energy photons. The shielding by (8). Methyl azide is pumped by an 8-eV vacuum UV (VUV) the atmosphere also makes demands on such experi- pulse of 10-fs duration and probed by a second 1.6-eV in- ments in the laboratory. There is, however, recent interest frared (IR) pulse that ionizes the molecule. The experiment largely driven by technology that makes higher resolution as seen through the eyes of a theorist is shown in Fig. 1. The possible. The experimental technology is advanced light pump pulse prepares a single excited electronic state, la- sources that offer far higher intensities, sharper wave- beled as S8, that theory shows has a mixed valence and length definition or, complementarily, short-duration Rydberg character. It is unusual that a single excited state pulses. The two alternatives make a whole because of is accessed at such a high energy. The high-level computa- the quantum mechanical time–energy uncertainty princi- tions reported by Peters et al. are quite clear that the ple that makes short pulses necessarily broad in energy. S8 state is relatively isolated and we will return to this point. The new light sources also enable pump and probe ex- The IR pulse ionizes the excited state through a two-photon periments, where a second light beam is used to monitor absorption and the ions and electrons are detected in co- the processes induced by the pump (1, 2). One can safely incidence on a few femtosecond time scale, which provides foresee that in the near future three and even four light a direct probe of the ultrafast correlated electron-nuclear beams will be used in confluence (3). The other technol- dynamics in the high excited-state manifold of the neutral. ogy that played a key role is the breakthrough improve- Initially, two electronically excited states of the cation are ment of the available theoretical tools. The highly excited detected. But as the C–N = N bond opens up, theory shows dense set of electronic states takes full advantage of the that the electronic energy of S8 goes down, the bend vibra- spectacular improvements in quantum chemical method- tional motion is excited, and only the ground state of the ologies. At the same time, quantum dynamics has come cation can be detected. The experiment clearly shows that of age, being able to treat the correlated motions of elec- the ionization turns by about 25 fs after excitation. Theory trons and nuclei. This is essential because it is a charac- suggests that the quenching of the ionization is direct evi- teristic of these highly excited states that small changes in dence of the nonadiabatic interaction of the S8 state with an the positions of the atoms can bring about qualitative optically dark S4 state, and that this occurs on a rather fast changes in the electronic states. The result is that such time scale. The S4 state is a valence-excited state that highly excited states are typically strongly coupled to has no allowed ionization to the ground state of the cation. other states. Often, this leads to so-called conical inter- It is dark to the IR probe because its electronic energy is too sections (4, 5). The progress in theory has been stimulated low. The CNN bending motion brings the S8 state to the by the increasing sophistication of the experiments. In neighborhood of the S4 state by about 10 fs. turn, theory has challenged the laboratory with new con- Very recent evidence (9) is that a similarly short time scale cepts and new issues. to reach the first conical intersection is observed in the ben- It is not only space and astrochemistry that provide the zene cation. The experiment detects charged products. By challenges of dynamics of highly excited states often driven keeping the count rate rather low, electrons and cations can by extreme conditions. Progress in propellants and explo- be measured in coincidence. The count vs. time is shown in sives and other energetic compounds (6, 7) is also aided by Fig. 1. Such time-resolved photoelectron spectra have been the recent developments. An explosion is, necessarily, a used before, but mostly at lower excitation energies. Appli- bulk event, so a single-molecule point of view is not the cations to valence electron dynamics and to conical intersec- only germane aspect. Nor are lasers the typical firearm tions were reported recently (10–12). The parent ion signal primers. But the insights on the very sudden release of decays with a time-decay constant of about 20 fs, while the + significant amounts of kinetic energy are both valuable primary daughter ion (HCNH ) signal rises with the same and interesting in their own right. time constant. aThe Fritz Haber Center for Molecular Dynamics and Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel; bDepartment of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095; and cDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 Author contributions: R.D.L. wrote the paper. The author declares no conflict of interest. Published under the PNAS license. See companion article on page E11072. 1Email: [email protected]. 13594–13596 | PNAS | December 26, 2017 | vol. 114 | no. 52 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1718814114 Downloaded by guest on September 28, 2021 Fig. 1. The early time dynamics in the high-energy states of methyl azide. It is an ID plot vs. time. The very short, 10-fs VUV laser pulse accesses a single, relatively isolated highly excited singlet state, the eighth in order of increasing energy. The electronic density of the state is shown. The molecule responds by opening the CNN bond angle or it is ionized to one of two energetically allowed states of the cation, but an intense IR probe pulse. The ions and electrons are detected in coincidence. By about 20 fs, the S8 state approaches a conical intersection with an S4 state, a state that, due to selection rules, cannot be ionized. The quenching of the charged products sets the time scale for the S8 state to cross the conical intersection to the S4 state. The reported theoretical simulations were carried out at several of pumped methyl azide can be described in terms of motion of nuclei levels. The highest, coupled clusters, were used to identify the optically along a potential energy, because the pump pulse duration, 10 fs, is absorbing state as a single, relatively isolated state, the eighth in relatively long. This means that its span in frequency, about 0.4 eV, is succession of singlets, hence S8. This electronic state is a superposition smaller than the spacings of the accessible excited electronic state in the of two Rydberg states, each one correlating to a different state of the 8-eV energy range. Thereby, only one excited electronic state is accessed. cation. It is the superposition that allows the probe IR transitions to the In such a case, a Born–Oppenheimer separation is valid at least immedi- two states of the cation, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Theory shows that ately past excitation. A description in terms of a single potential energy the S8 state is diabatically coupled to the S6 and S4 states, both of surface is then realistic. Using a shorter pulse, what is today becoming which are also a Rydberg–valence mix. (It is customary to characterize possible, provides a wider span in frequency; with such a pulse, two or the coupling as “nonadiabatic,” but strictly speaking “adiabatic” means more distinct electronic states can be reached. Such an excited initial state not diabatic and a theorist is expected to be careful with words.) There can be technically described as a coherent superposition of stationary was no experimental evidence that the S6 state is populated by the electronic states, otherwise known as an electronic wavepacket. The de- pump to any measurable extent. A key point of the theory is that the velopment of shorter pulses opens for exploration a new regime in correlated electron-nuclear motion subsequent to the excitation was dynamics. The previous analogous development is the introduction fully described as correlated. This means that each electronic state of femtosecond pulses with frequency spans wider than a vibrational was assigned its own wavepacket. The overall amplitudes of these spacing. These allow pumping of coherent superpositions of vibrational separate wavepackets were changed on the fly, as indicated by the states, states that are localized in space. As such states evolve in time, dynamics (13, 14). The dynamics shows that the motion out of the the geometry of the system changes. Therefore, such evolution corre- Franck–Condon regime on S8 to the conical intersection with S4 takes sponds to our intuitive idea of a molecular view of a chemical reaction. about a quarter bend of the CNN angle, or about 10 fs. In the hands of Ahmed Zewail (17, 18) and others, pumping with For lower excited states, there were earlier indications of the fast femtosecond lasers allowed monitoring the unfolding of a chemical time scale for the relaxation of the optically excited state.