Inducing And Probing Charge Migration In Molecular Systems

TL;DR

This paper explores how symmetry influences ultrafast charge migration in molecules, using time-dependent electronic densities and x-ray diffraction to visualize charge dynamics at atomic scales.

Contribution

It introduces the effect of molecular symmetry on adiabatic attosecond charge migration and demonstrates imaging techniques for observing charge dynamics with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Findings

Symmetry significantly affects charge migration patterns.

Charge migration can be visualized with time-resolved x-ray diffraction.

Charge dynamics occur on femtosecond to attosecond timescales.

Abstract

Technological advancements in generation of ultrafast and intense laser pulses have enabled the real-time observation and control of charge migration in molecules on their natural timescale, which ranges from few femtoseconds to several hundreds of attoseconds. Present thesis discusses the effect of symmetry on the adiabatic attosecond charge migration in different molecular systems. The spatial representation of the charge migration is documented by time-dependent electronic charge and flux densities. Furthermore, the induced charge migration is imaged via time resolved x-ray diffraction (TRXD) with atomic-scale spatiotemporal resolution in few cases.