Ultrafast phase transitions in metastable water near liquid interfaces

Oliver Link, Esteban Vöhringer-Martinez, Eugen Lugovoj, Yaxing Liu, Katrin Siefermann, Manfred Faubel, Helmut Grubmüller, R. Benny Gerber, Yifat Miller, Bernd Abel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) is a powerful tool for the quantitative analysis of the composition and the chemical environment of molecular systems. Due to the lack of compatibility of liquids and vacuum, liquid-phase ESCA is much less well established. The chemical shift in the static ESCA approach is a particularly powerful observable quantity for probing electron orbital energies in molecules in different molecular environments. Employing high harmonics of 800 nm (40 eV), near-infrared femtosecond pulses, and liquid-water microbeams in vacuum we were able to add the dimension of time to the liquid interface ESCA technique. Tracing time-dependent chemical shifts and energies of valence electrons in liquid interfacial water in time, we have investigated the timescale and molecular signatures of laser-induced liquid-gas phase transitions on a picosecond timescale.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)67-79
Number of pages13
JournalFaraday Discussions
Volume141
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ultrafast phase transitions in metastable water near liquid interfaces'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this