Description:

Photoexcited species in condensed phase molecules and materials are used in a wide range of applications and the processes upon which these applications are based can span a wide range of timescales involving many degrees of freedom. Achieving a mechanistic understanding of photoexcited processes is quite complex, especially in condensed phase systems with many degrees of freedom. In particular, non-adiabatic curve crossing dynamics are among the most important phenomena for photoexcited relaxation in molecules yet the direct measurement of non-adiabatic dynamics during electronic curve crossings continually has proven elusive. In other areas of condensed phase research, the involvement of electronic spin degrees of freedom during photoexcited phenomena is of both fundamental importance and applied interest. In this talk, I will discuss my research group’s progress in developing new ultrafast multidimensional spectroscopies that directly reveal cross-correlations and couplings between different degrees of freedom that facilitate non-adiabatic curve crossing dynamics and those relating molecular vibrational and electronic motions with electronic spin states.

James Gaynor, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Northwestern University

Host: Venkat Chandrasekhar