Ultrafast Optical and Electron Imaging of Laser Generated Glycerol Liquid Bubbles and CO Molecules on Solid Surfaces

Imaging reaction dynamics of molecules in isolated gas systems and solvated systems would reveal the mechanism of how solvents affect and control chemistry. Here we developed a picosecond infrared laser (PIRL) driven molecular beam based on the principle of desorption by impulsive vibrational excitation (DIVE) to prepare biomolecule plumes ranging from isolated gas molecules, thin-liquid films to fluid jets by varying PIRL fluencies.

We coupled this PIRL-DIVE plume with a femtosecond electron gun, which was driven by a third harmonic of a Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser. We demonstrated that we could image both gas-phase and liquid-phase samples in real space and reciprocal space with femtosecond electron pulses by tuning the magnetic lens current. This will allow us simultaneously study reaction dynamics in isolated gas phase systems and directly observe the same reaction dynamics in liquids with atomic spatial resolution and femtosecond temporal resolution.

The recorded talk can be watched under this link.