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Femtochemistry

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Abstract

The goal of this document is to have students explore a simple solution to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. This is done in the context of understanding the work, commonly called femtochemistry, of recent Nobel Prize winner Ahmed Zewail. This document is suitable for use once the students have been introduced to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the harmonic oscillator model. An incomplete document is given to the students in which they first review the harmonic oscillator model for molecular vibration, which is a solution to the time-independent Schrödinger equation. (A completed version of the document is available for instructors.) The students then study the process of exciting molecules with an ultra-fast laser pulse. The molecules thus excited are in a superposition that has time-dependent behavior. The wavefunction of the superposition is determined, and students use Mathcad to model the time-dependent behavior of the system.

Figure 1. Probability distribution at time = 0 as a function of x, the harmonic oscillator displacement in meters, for the superposition of vibrational states in iodine excited by a 100-fs laser pulse.

Downloads

Version	Student	Instructor
Mathcad 2001i	FemtochemistryStudent2001i.mcd	Femtochemistry2001i.mcd
Mathcad 8	FemtochemistryStudent8.mcd	Femtochemistry8.mcd

Version	Student	Instructor
Mathcad	Femtochemistry.pdf

Animation	ShortPulse.avi

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Keywords

Domain: Physical Chemistry;

Topics: Computational Chemistry; Lasers; Photochemistry; Quantum Chemistry; Spectroscopy;

JCE Citation