270094 VO Ultrafast and Multidimensional Laserspectroscopy (2020W)

This course aims to illustrate how advanced laserspectroscopy methods like ultrafast and multidimensional spectroscopy with visible and infrared light are used to study molecular systems. We will start with describing the interaction between light and matter and discussing various aspects of line broadening. Subsequently, you will be introduced to the principles of lasers and especially mode locked lasers producing laserpulses with a duration of 10s of femtoseconds. This introductory part of the lecture is followed by a theoretical and practical description of multidimensional spectroscopy in which a sequence of laser pulses is used. Recent research examples from literature will be used to illustrate the concepts. These multi-dimensional, ultrafast spectroscopies have great potential by opening increasingly broad experimental windows into the structure and dynamics of molecules on early fs-time-scales. Besides dipole-dipole coupling and energy and population transfer, chemical exchange 2D-IR spectroscopic studies will be discussed.
The lecture series offers an overview of both the breadth and depth of current activity in the field and may provide motivation for advancing the frontiers in this era and the interdisciplinary context in the fields of physics, chemical physics and biophysics.