Picosecond X-Ray Diffraction Probed Transient Structural Changes in Organic Solids

S. Techert; F. Schotte; M. Wulff

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2030

Picosecond X-Ray Diffraction Probed Transient Structural Changes in Organic Solids

S. Techert, F. Schotte, and M. Wulff

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2030 – Published 5 March 2001

Abstract

In this Letter, we report on the experimental characterization of the geometry of short-lived electronically excited states in organic solids by time-resolved x-ray diffraction. Here, the structure factor of the organic crystal is measured as a function of time. Since this technique gives complete structural information, it is a very useful tool for learning more about atom motions on the excited-state energy surface—“beyond” the broad band typical of conventional spectroscopy. Although we used molecular crystals rather than free molecules, the compounds show detectable transient structural changes on the ps to ns time scale in our study.

Received 16 May 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2030

Authors & Affiliations

S. Techert^1,2,*, F. Schotte¹, and M. Wulff¹

¹European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, B.P. 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
²Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Department 010, 37070 Göttingen, Germany

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.Electronic address: stecher@gwdg.de Present address: Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Department 010, 37070 Göttingen, Germany.