Delayed relaxation of highly excited naphthalene cations. Issue 7 (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Reitsma, G; Hummert, J; Dura, J; Loriot, V; Vrakking, M J J; Lépine, F; Kornilov, O
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 1412:Issue 7(2019)
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: Physics -- Congresses; 530.5
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1412/7/072044
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-6588

Abstract

Synopsis: The efficiency of energy transfer in ultrafast electronic relaxation of molecules depends strongly on the complex interplay between electronic and nuclear motion. In this study we use wavelength-selected XUV pulses to induce relaxation dynamics of highly excited cationic states of naphthalene. Surprisingly, the observed relaxation lifetimes increase with the cationic excitation energy. We propose that this is a manifestation of a quantum mechanical population trapping that leads to delayed relaxation of molecules in the regions with a high density of excited states.