Addressing intramolecular vibrational redistribution in a single molecule through pump and probe surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantum mechanical framework to analyze intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR) using surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy, demonstrating potential for single-molecule level detection.

Contribution

It introduces a molecular optomechanics model for IVR and compares two pump-probe configurations to identify signatures of IVR in SERS spectra.

Findings

Signatures of IVR can be observed in anti-Stokes SERS spectra.

Realistic parameters suggest single-molecule IVR detection is feasible.

Two pump-probe strategies effectively reveal vibrational population transfer.

Abstract

The development of accurate tools to characterize Intramolecular Vibrational Redistribution (IVR) is of major interest in chemistry. In this context, surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopies stand up as well-established techniques to study molecular vibrational lines and populations with a sensitivity that can reach the single-molecule level. However, to date, this possibility has not been fully developed to address IVR. Here, we establish a quantum mechanical framework based on molecular optomechanics that accounts for IVR, and we adopt it to analyze strategies to optimize IVR characterization by surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy. In particular, we model two different pump-and-probe configurations where the vibrational pumping is provided either by infrared laser illumination or by Stokes scattering processes in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). We show for the two pumping configurations the existence of clear signatures on the anti-Stokes SERS spectra of population transfer between coupled vibrational modes in a molecule. Our calculations adopt realistic molecular and SERS parameters, suggesting that these signatures of IVR could be accessible at the single-molecule level within realistic experimental platforms.