Structural Dynamics (Mar 2019)

Ultrafast structural dynamics of photo-reactions observed by time-resolved x-ray cross-correlation analysis

  • Peter Vester,
  • Ivan A. Zaluzhnyy,
  • Ruslan P. Kurta,
  • Klaus B. Møller,
  • Elisa Biasin,
  • Kristoffer Haldrup,
  • Martin Meedom Nielsen,
  • Ivan A. Vartanyants

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5086374
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 2
pp. 024301 – 024301-8

Abstract

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We applied angular X-ray Cross-Correlation analysis (XCCA) to scattering images from a femtosecond resolution X-ray free-electron laser pump-probe experiment with solvated PtPOP {[Pt2(P2O5H2)4]4–} metal complex molecules. The molecules were pumped with linear polarized laser pulses creating an excited state population with a preferred orientational (alignment) direction. Two time scales of 1.9 ± 1.5 ps and 46 ± 10 ps were revealed by angular XCCA associated with structural changes and rotational dephasing of the solvent molecules, respectively. These results illustrate the potential of XCCA to reveal hidden structural information in the analysis of time-resolved x-ray scattering data from molecules in solution.