@phdthesis{Luettig2023,
  author    = {L{\"u}ttig, Julian Konstantin},
  title     = {Coherent Higher-Order Spectroscopy: Investigating Multi-Exciton Interaction},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-29318},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-293182},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {The goal of this thesis was the development and application of higher-order spectroscopic techniques. In contrast to ordinary pump-probe (PP) and two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy, higher-order coherently detected spectroscopic methods measure a polarization that has an order of nonlinearity higher than three. The key idea of the techniques in this thesis is to isolate the higher-order signals from the lower-order signals either by their excitation frequency or by their excitation intensity dependence. Due to the increased number of interactions in higher-order spectroscopy, highly excited states can be probed. For excitonic systems such as aggregates and polymers, the fifth-order signal allows one to directly measure exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA). In polymers and aggregates, the exciton transport is not connected to a change of the absorption and can therefore not be investigated with conventional third-order techniques. In contrast, EEA can be used as a probe to study exciton diffusion in these isonergetic systems. As a part of this thesis, anisotropy in fifth-order 2D spectroscopy was investigated and was used to study geometric properties in polymers. In 2D spectroscopy, the multi-quantum signals are separated from each other by their spectral position along the excitation axis. This concept can be extended systematically to higher signals. Another approach to isolate multi-quantum signals in PP spectroscopy utilizes the excitation intensity. The PP signal is measured at specific excitation intensities and linear combinations of these measurements result in different signal contributions. However, these signals do not correspond to clean nonlinear signals because the higher-order signals contaminate the lower-order multi-quantum signals. In this thesis, a correction protocol was derived that uses the isolated multiquantum signals, both from 2D spectroscopy and from PP spectroscopy, to remove the contamination of higher-order signals resulting in clean nonlinear signals. Using the correction on the third-order signal allows one to obtain annihilation-free signals at high excitation intensities, i.e., with high signal-to-noise ratio. Isolation and correction in PP and 2D spectroscopy were directly compared by measuring the clean third-order signals of squaraine oligomers at high excitation intensities. Furthermore, higher-order PP spectroscopy was used to isolate up to the 13th nonlinear order of squaraine polymers. The demonstrated spectroscopic techniques represent general procedures to isolate clean signals in terms of perturbation theory. The technique of higher-order PP spectroscopy needs only small modifications of ordinary PP setups which opens the field of higher-order spectroscopy to the broad scientific community. The technique to obtain clean nonlinear signals allows one to systematically increase the number of interacting (quasi)particles in a system and to characterize their interaction energies and dynamics.},
  subject      = {Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Mueller2022,
  author    = {M{\"u}ller, Stefan},
  title     = {Coherent Multiple-Quantum Multidimensional Fluorescence Spectroscopy},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-24411},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-244113},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {This thesis describes novel concepts for the measurement of the static and dynamic properties of the electronic structure of molecules and nanocrystals in the liquid phase by means of coherent fluorescence-detected spectroscopy in two and three frequency dimensions. These concepts are based on the systematic variation ("phase cycling") of a sequence of multiple time-delayed femtosecond excitation pulses in order to decode a multitude of novel nonlinear signals from the resulting phase-dependent fluorescence signal. These signals represent any permutation of correlations between zero-, one-, two-, and three-quantum coherences. To this end, two new phase-cycling schemes have been developed which can simultaneously resolve and discriminate several nonlinear signals of sixth order, including those of the fourth order of nonlinearity. By means of the sixth-order signals recorded in this work, static properties of highly excited electronic states in molecules such as their energies, transition dipole moments, and relative displacement of electronic potential surfaces, as well as dynamic properties in terms of their relaxation kinetics, can be ascertained. Furthermore, it was shown that these signals are suitable for the characterization of exciton-exciton correlations in colloidal quantum dots and for the measurement of ultrafast exciton-exciton annihilation in molecular aggregates. The experiments performed in this thesis mark an important step towards the complete characterization of the nonlinear response of quantum systems. In view of this, the concept of fluorescence-detected multiple-quantum coherence multidimensional spectroscopy introduced here offers a unified, systematic approach. In virtue of the technical advantages such as the use of a single excitation beam and the absence of nonresonant contributions, the measurement protocols developed here can be directly transferred to other incoherent observables and to sample systems in other states of matter. Furthermore, the approaches presented here can be systematically extended to higher frequency dimensions and higher orders of nonlinearity.},
  subject      = {Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Goetz2019,
  author    = {G{\"o}tz, Sebastian Reinhold},
  title     = {Nonlinear spectroscopy at the diffraction limit: probing ultrafast dynamics with shaped few-cycle laser pulses},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-19213},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-192138},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {An experimental setup for probing ultrafast dynamics at the diffraction limit was developed, characterized and demonstrated in the scope of the thesis, aiming for optical investigations while simultaneously approaching the physical limits on the length and timescale. An overview of this experimental setup was given in Chapter 2, as well as the considerations that led to the selection of the individual components. Broadband laser pulses with a length of 9.3 fs, close to the transform limit of 7.6 fs, were focused in a NA = 1.4 immersion oil objective, to the diffraction limit of below 300 nm (FWHM). The spatial focus shape was characterized with off-resonance gold nanorod scatterers scanned through the focal volume. For further insights into the functionality and limitations of the pulse shaper, its calibration procedure was reviewed. The deviations between designed and experimental pulse shapes were attributed to pulse-shaper artifacts, including voltage-dependent inter-layer as well as intra-layer LCD-pixel crosstalk, Fabry-P{\´e}rot-type reflections in the LCD layers, and space-time coupling. A pixel-dependent correction was experimentally carried out, which can be seen as an extension of the initial calibration to all possible voltage combinations of the two LCD layers. The capabilities of the experimental setup were demonstrated in two types of experiments, targeting the nonlinearity of gold (Chapter 3) as well as two-dimensional spectroscopy at micro-structured surfaces (Chapter 4). Investigating thin films, an upper bound for the absolute value for the imaginary part of the nonlinear refractive index of gold could be set to |n′′ 2 (Au)| < 0.6·10-16 m2/W, together with |n′ 2 (Au)| < 1.2·10-16 m2/W as an upper bound for the absolute value of the real part. Finite-difference time-domain simulations on y-shaped gold nanostructures indicated that a phase change of ∆Φ ≥ 0.07 rad between two plasmonic modes would induce a sufficient change in the spatial contrast of emission to the far-field to be visible in the experiment. As the latter could not be observed, this value of ∆Φ was determined as the upper bound for the experimentally induced phase change. An upper bound of 52 GW/cm2 was found for the damage threshold. In Chapter 4, a novel method for nonlinear spectroscopy on surfaces was presented. Termed coherent two-dimensional fluorescence micro-spectroscopy, it is capable of exploring ultrafast dynamics in nanostructures and molecular systems at the diffraction limit. Two-dimensional spectra of spatially isolated hotspots in structured thin films of fluorinated zinc phthalocyanine (F16ZnPc) dye were taken with a 27-step phase-cycling scheme. Observed artifacts in the 2D maps were identified as a consequence from deviations between the desired and the experimental pulse shapes. The optimization procedures described in Chapter 2 successfully suppressed the deviations to a level where the separation from the nonlinear sample response was feasible. The experimental setup and methods developed and presented in the scope of this thesis demonstrate its flexibility and capability to study microscopic systems on surfaces. The systems exemplarily shown are consisting of metal-organic dyes and metallic nanostructures, represent samples currently under research in the growing fields of organic semiconductors and plasmonics.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schott2018,
  author    = {Schott, Sebastian},
  title     = {Identification of trihalide photodissociation patterns by global vibrational wavepacket analysis of broadband magic-angle transient absorption data},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159677},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The invention of laser pulse shapers allowed for various quantum control experiments, where a chemical reaction is guided by specifically tailored laser pulses. However, despite of the prominent role of the liquid phase in chemistry, no successful attempt for controlling the selectivity of a bond-fission reaction has yet been reported in this state of matter. Promising candidates for such an experiment are C\$_{\infty\mathrm{v}}\$-symmetric trihalide anions with two different chemical bonds like \$\ce{I2Cl-}\$, because these molecules notionally offer the most simplest selectivity-control scenario of breaking either the one or the other bond and they are expected to dissociate under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation like it is known for the most-studied trihalide \$\ce{I3-}\$. In order to investigate in this thesis the possibility that the dissociation reaction of such trihalides branches into two different photofragments, the ultrafast photodissociation dynamics of \$\ce{I3-}\$, \$\ce{Br3-}\$, \$\ce{IBr2-}\$ and \$\ce{ICl2-}\$ (point group D\$_{\infty\mathrm{h}}\$) as well as of \$\ce{I2Br-}\$ and \$\ce{I2Cl-}\$ (point group C\$_{\infty\mathrm{v}}\$) in dichloromethane solution were measured with broadband transient absorption spectroscopy in magic-angle configuration. The identification of the reaction pathway(s) relies on vibrational wavepacket oscillations, which survive the dissociation process and therefore carry not only informations about the reactant trihalides but also about the fragment dihalides. These characteristic vibrational wavenumbers were extracted from the measured transient absorption spectra by globally fitting the population dynamics together with the wavepacket dynamics. Until recently, such a combined model function was not available in the well-established fitting tool Glotaran. This made it inevitable to develop a custom implementation of the underlying variable-projection fitting algorithm, for which the computer-algebra software Mathematica was chosen. Mathematica's sophisticated built-in functions allow not only for a high flexibility in constructing arbitrary model functions, but also offer the possibility to automatically calculate the derivative(s) of a model function. This allows the fitting procedure to use the exact Jacobian matrix instead of approximating it with the finite difference method. Against the expectation, only one of the two thinkable photodissociation channels was found for each of the investigated C\$_{\infty\mathrm{v}}\$ trihalides. Since the photofragments recombine, their absorption signal as well as the reactant ground state bleach recover. This happens in a biexponential manner, which in the case of \$\ce{I3-}\$ was interpreted by Ruhman and coworkers with the direct formation of a neutral dihalogen fragment \$\ce{I2}\$ beside the negatively charged dihalide fragment \$\ce{I2-}\$. In this thesis, such a direct reaction channel was not found and instead the fast component of the biexponential decay is explained with vibrational excess energy mediating the recombination-preceding electron transfer process \$\ce{I2- + I -> I2 + I-}\$, while the slow component is attributed to cooled-down fragments. In addition to the trihalide experiments, the possibility of a magic-angle configuration for polarization-shaping control experiments was theoretically investigated in this thesis by deriving magic-angle conditions for the third-order electric-dipole response signal of arbitrarily polarized laser pulses. Furthermore, the subtleties of anisotropy signals violating the well-known range of \numrange{-0.2}{0.4} were studied.},
  subject      = {Femtosekundenspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Roeding2018,
  author    = {R{\"o}ding, Sebastian},
  title     = {Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy in Molecular Beams and Liquids Using Incoherent Observables},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-156726},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Umsetzung einer experimentellen Herangehensweise, welche die koh{\"a}rente zweidimensionale (2D) Spektroskopie an Proben in unterschiedlichen Aggregatzust{\"a}nden erm{\"o}glicht. Hierzu wurde zun{\"a}chst ein Aufbau f{\"u}r fl{\"u}ssige Proben realisiert, in welchem die emittierte Fluoreszenz als Messsignal zur Aufnahme der 2D Spektren genutzt wird. Im Gegensatz zu dieser bereits etablierten Methode in der fl{\"u}ssigen Phase stellt die in dieser Arbeit außerdem vorgestellte 2D Spektroskopie an gasf{\"o}rmigen Proben in einem Molekularstrahl einen neuen Ansatz dar. Hierbei werden zum ersten Mal Kationen mittels eines Flugzeitmassenspektrometers als Signal verwendet und somit ionen-spezifische 2D Spektren isolierter Molek{\"u}le erhalten. Zus{\"a}tzlich zu den experimentellen Entwicklungen wurde in dieser Arbeit ein neues Konzept zur Datenerfassung in der 2D Spektroskopie entworfen, welches mit Hilfe einer optimierten Signalabtastung und eines Compressed-Sensing Rekonstruktionsalgorithmus die Aufnahmezeit der Daten deutlich reduziert. Charakteristisch f{\"u}r die in dieser Arbeit eingesetzte Variante der 2D Spektroskopie ist die Verwendung einer phasenkoh{\"a}renten Sequenz bestehend aus vier Laserimpulsen in einer kollinearen Laserstrahlgeometrie zur Anregung der Probe. Diese Impulssequenz wurde durch einen Laserimpulsformer erzeugt, der durch {\"A}nderung der relevanten Laserimpulsparameter mit der Wiederholrate des Lasers eine schnelle Datenerfassung erm{\"o}glicht. Die Antwort der Probe auf diese Anregung wurde durch inkoh{\"a}rente Observablen gemessen, welche proportional zur Population des angeregten Zustandes sind, wie zum Beispiel Fluoreszenz oder Ionen. Um aus diesem Signal w{\"a}hrend der Datenanalyse die gew{\"u}nschten nichtlinearen Beitr{\"a}ge zu extrahieren, wurde die Messung mit verschiedenen Kombinationen der relativen Phase zwischen den Laserimpulsen wiederholt ("Phase Cycling"). Der Aufbau zur 2D Spektroskopie in fl{\"u}ssiger Phase mit Fluoreszenz-Detektion wurde an Hand von 2D Spektren des Laserfarbstoffes Cresyl Violett charakterisiert. Hierbei wurden Oszillationen in verschiedenen Bereichen des 2D Spektrums beobachtet, welche durch vibronische Koh{\"a}renzen hervorgerufen werden und mit fr{\"u}heren Beobachtungen in der Literatur {\"u}bereinstimmen. Mit dem gleichen Datensatz wurde im n{\"a}chsten Schritt das neue Konzept zur optimierten Datenerfassung demonstriert. Um ein optimiertes Schema f{\"u}r die Signalabtastung zu finden, wurde ein genetischer Algorithmus implementiert, wobei nur ein Viertel der eigentlichen Datenpunkte zur Messwerterfassung verwendet werden sollte. Dies reduziert die Zeitdauer der Datenerfassung auf ein Viertel der urspr{\"u}nglichen Messzeit. Die Rekonstruktion des vollst{\"a}ndigen Signales erfolgte mit Hilfe einer neuartigen, kompakten Darstellung von 2D Spektren basierend auf der von Neumann Basis. Diese Herangehensweise ben{\"o}tigte im Vergleich zur {\"u}blicherweise verwendeten Fourier Basis nur ein Sechstel der Koeffizienten um das Signal vollst{\"a}ndig darzustellen und erm{\"o}glichte so die erfolgreiche Rekonstruktion der Oszillationen in Cresyl Violett aus einem reduzierten Datensatz. Mit Hilfe der neuartigen koh{\"a}renten 2D Spektroskopie an Molekularstrahlen wurden {\"U}berg{\"a}nge von hoch angeregten Rydberg-Zust{\"a}nden ins ionische Kontinuum in Stickstoffdioxid untersucht. Als dominierender Beitrag stellte sich hierbei der {\"U}bergang in auto-ionisierende Zust{\"a}nde heraus. Ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Datenerfassung {\"u}ber ein Flugzeitmassenspektrometer ist die M{\"o}glichkeit der gleichzeitigen Aufnahme von 2D Spektren der Edukte und Produkte einer chemischen Reaktion. Dies wurde in Experimenten zur Mehrphotonenionisation gezeigt, in denen deutliche Unterschiede in den 2D Spektren des Stickstoffdioxid-Kations und des Stickstoffmonoxid-Fragmentes sichtbar wurden, welche auf unterschiedliche Antwortfunktionen zur{\"u}ckzuf{\"u}hren sind. Die in dieser Arbeit entwickelten experimentellen Techniken erm{\"o}glichen die schnelle Aufnahme von 2D Spektren f{\"u}r Proben in unterschiedlichen Aggregatzust{\"a}nden und erlauben einen zuverl{\"a}ssigen, direkten Vergleich der Ergebnisse. Sie sind deshalb ein Wegbereiter f{\"u}r zuk{\"u}nftige Untersuchungen der Eigenschaften quantenmechanischer Koh{\"a}renzen in photophysikalischen Prozessen oder w{\"a}hrend photochemischer Reaktionen in unterschiedlichen Aggregatzust{\"a}nden.},
  subject      = {Femtosekundenspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kramer2017,
  author    = {Kramer, Christian},
  title     = {Investigation of Nanostructure-Induced Localized Light Phenomena Using Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-150681},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {In recent years, the interaction of light with subwavelength structures, i.e., structures that are smaller than the optical wavelength, became more and more interesting to scientific research, since it provides the opportunity to manipulate light-induced dynamics below the optical diffraction limit. Specifically designed nanomaterials can be utilized to tailor the temporal evolution of electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale. For the investigation of strongly localized processes, it is essential to resolve both their spatial and their temporal behavior. The aim of this thesis was to study and/or control the temporal evolution of three nanostructure-induced localized light phenomena by using ultrafast laser spectroscopy with high spatial resolution. In Chapter 4, the absorption of near-infrared light in thin-film a-Si:H solar cells was investigated. Using nanotextured instead of smooth interfaces for such devices leads to an increase of absorption from < 20\% to more than 50\% in the near-infrared regime. Time-resolved experiments with femtosecond laser pulses were performed to clarify the reason for this enhancement. The coherent backscattered radiation from nanotextured solar cell devices was measured as a function of the sample position and evaluated via spectral interferometry. Spatially varying resonance peaks in the recorded spectra indicated the formation of localized photonic modes within the nanotextured absorber layers. In order to identify the modes separately from each other, coherent two-dimensional (2D) nanoscopy was utilized, providing a high spatial resolution < 40 nm. In a nanoscopy measurement on a modified device with an exposed nanotextured a-Si:H absorber layer, hot-spot electron emission was observed and confirmed the presence of localized modes. Fitting the local 2D nanospectra at the hot-spot positions enabled the determination of the resonance frequencies and coherence lifetimes of the modes. The obtained lifetime values varied between 50 fs and 130 fs. Using a thermionic emission model allowed the calculation of the locally absorbed energy density and, with this, an estimation of the localization length of the photonic modes (≈1 μm). The localization could be classified by means of the estimated localization length and additional data evaluation of the backscattered spectra as strong localization ─ the so-called Anderson localization. Based on the experimental results, it was concluded that the enhanced absorption of near-infrared light in thin-film silicon solar cells with nanotextured interfaces is caused by the formation of strongly localized photonic modes within the disordered absorber layers. The incoming near-infrared light is trapped in these long-living modes until absorption occurs. In Chapter 5, a novel hybridized plasmonic device was introduced and investigated in both theory and experiment. It consists of two widely separated whispering gallery mode (WGM) nanoantennas located in an elliptical plasmonic cavity. The goal was to realize a periodic long-range energy transfer between the nanoantennas. In finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, the device was first optimized with respect to strong coupling between the localized antenna modes and the spatially-extended cavity mode. The geometrical parameters of the antennas and the cavity were adjusted separately so that the m="0" antenna mode and the cavity mode were resonant at λ="800 nm" . A high spatial overlap of the modes was achieved by positioning the two antennas in the focal spots of the cavity, leading to a distance between the antenna centers of more than twice the resonant wavelength of the modes. The spectral response of the optimized device revealed an energy splitting of the antenna and the cavity mode into three separated hybridized eigenmodes within an energy range of about 90 meV due to strong coupling. It could be well reproduced by a simple model of three coupled Lorentzian oscillators. In the time domain, an oscillatory energy transfer between both antennas with a period of 86 fs and an energy transfer efficiency of about 7\% was observed for single-pulse excitation. For the experiments, devices with cavities and antennas of varying size were fabricated by means of focused-ion-beam (FIB) milling. Time-resolved correlation measurements were performed with high spatial and temporal resolution by using sequences of two femtosecond laser pulses for excitation and photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) for detection. Local correlation traces at antennas in resonant devices, i.e., devices with enhanced electron emission at both antenna positions, were investigated and reconstructed by means of the coupled-oscillator model. The corresponding spectral response revealed separated peaks, confirming the formation of hybridized eigenmodes due to strong coupling. In a subsequent simulation for single-pulse excitation, one back-and-forth energy transfer between both antennas with an energy transfer efficiency of about 10\% was observed. Based on the theoretical and experimental results, it was demonstrated that in the presented plasmonic device a periodic long-range energy transfer between the two nanoantennas is possible. Furthermore, the coupled-oscillator model enables one to study in depth how specific device properties impact the temporal electric-field dynamics within the device. This can be exploited to further optimize energy transfer efficiency of the device. Future applications are envisioned in ultrafast plasmonic nanocircuitry. Moreover, the presented device can be employed to realize efficient SPP-mediated strong coupling between widely separated quantum emitters. In Chapter 6, it was investigated in theory how the local optical chirality enhancement in the near field of plasmonic nanostructures can be optimized by tuning the far-field polarization of the incident light. An analytic expression was derived that enables the calculation of the optimal far-field polarizations, i.e., the two far-field polarizations which lead to the highest positive and negative local optical chirality, for any given nanostructure geometry. The two optimal far-field polarizations depend on the local optical response of the respective nanostructure and thus are functions of both the frequency ω and the position r. Their ellipticities differ only in their sign, i.e., in their direction of rotation in the time domain, and the angle between their orientations, i.e., the angle between the principal axes of their ellipses, is ±π/"2" . The handedness of optimal local optical chirality can be switched by switching between the optimal far-field polarizations. In numerical simulations, it was exemplarily shown for two specific nanostructure assemblies that the optimal local optical chirality can significantly exceed the optical chirality values of circularly polarized light in free space ─ the highest possible values in free space. The corresponding optimal far-field polarizations were different from linear and circular and varied with frequency. Using femtosecond polarization pulse shaping provides the opportunity to coherently control local optical chirality over a continuous frequency range. Furthermore, symmetry properties of nanostructures can be exploited to determine which far-field polarization is optimal. The theoretical findings can have impact on future experimental studies about local optical chirality enhancement. Tuning the far-field polarization of the incident light offers a promising tool to enhance chirally specific interactions of local electromagnetic fields with molecular and other quantum systems in the vicinity of plasmonic nanostructures. The presented approach can be utilized for applications in chiral sensing of adsorbed molecules, time-resolved chirality-sensitive spectroscopy, and chiral quantum control. In conclusion, each of the localized light phenomena that were investigated in this thesis ─ the enhanced local absorption of near-infrared light due to the formation of localized photonic modes, the periodic long-range energy transfer between two nanoantennas within an elliptical plasmonic cavity, and the optimization of local optical chirality enhancement by tuning the far-field polarization of the incident light ─ can open up new perspectives for a variety of future applications. .},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Koch2016,
  author    = {Koch, Federico Juan},
  title     = {Structure-Dependent Ultrafast Relaxation Dynamics in Multichromophoric Systems},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-136306},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Time-resolved spectroscopy allows for analyzing light-induced energy conversion and chromophore-chromophore interactions in molecular systems, which is a prerequisite in the design of new materials and for improving the efficiency of opto-electronic devices. To elucidate photo-induced dynamics of complex molecular systems, transient absorption (TA) and coherent two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy were employed and combined with additional experimental techniques, theoretical approaches, and simulation models in this work. A systematic series of merocyanines, synthetically varied in the number of chromophores and subsitution pattern, attached to a benzene unit was investigated in cooperation with the group of Prof. Dr. Frank W{\"u}rthner at the University of W{\"u}rzburg. The global analysis of several TA experiments, and additional coherent 2D spectroscopy experiments, provided the basis to elaborate a relaxation scheme which was applicable for all merocyanine systems under investigation. This relaxation scheme is based on a double minimum on the excited-state potential energy surface. One of these minima is assigned to an intramolecular charge-transfer state which is stabilized in the bis- and tris-chromophoric dyes by chromphore-chromophore interactions, resulting in an increase in excited-state lifetime. Electro-optical absorption and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed a preferential chromophore orientation which compensates most of the dipole moment of the individual chromophores. Based on this structural assignment the conformationdependent exciton energy splitting was calculated. The linear absorption spectra of the multi-chromophoric merocyanines could be described by a combination of monomeric and excitonic spectra. Subsequently, a structurally complex polymeric squaraine dye was studied in collaboration with the research groups of Prof. Dr. Christoph Lambert and Prof. Dr. Roland Mitric at the University of W{\"u}rzburg. This polymer consists of a superposition of zigzag and helix structures depending on the solvent. High-level DFT calculations confirmed the previous assignment that zigzag and helix structures can be treated as J- and H-aggregates, respectively. TA experiments revealed that in dependence on the solvent as well as the excitation energy, ultrafast energy transfer within the squaraine polymer proceeds from initially excited helix segments to zigzag segments or vice versa. Additionally, 2D spectroscopy confirmed the observed sub-picosecond dynamics. In contrast to other conjugated polymers such as MEH-PPV, which is investigated in the last chapter, ultrafast energy transfer in squaraine polymers is based on the matching of the density of states between donor and acceptor segments due to the small reorganization energy in cyanine-like chromophores. Finally, the photo-induced dynamics of the aggregated phase of the conjugated polymer MEH-PPV was investigated in cooperation with the group of Prof. Dr. Anna K{\"o}hler at the University of Bayreuth. Our collaborators had previously described the aggregation of MEH-PPV upon cooling by the formation of so-called HJ-aggregates based on exciton theory. By TA measurements and by making use of an affiliated band analysis distinct relaxation processes in the excited state and to the ground state were discriminated. By employing 2D spectroscopy the energy transfer between different conjugated segments within the aggregated polymer was resolved. The initial exciton relaxation within the aggregated phase indicates a low exciton mobility, in contrast to the subsequent energy transfer between different chromophores within several picoseconds. This work contributes by its systematic study of structure-dependent relaxation dynamics to the basic understanding of the structure-function relationship within complex molecular systems. The investigated molecular classes display a high potential to increase efficiencies of opto-electronic devices, e.g., organic solar cells, by the selective choice of the molecular morphology.},
  subject      = {Femtosekundenspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Knorr2015,
  author    = {Knorr, Johannes Walter},
  title     = {Femtosecond spectroscopy of photolysis reactions in the liquid phase},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-131362},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Within the framework of this thesis, photolysis reactions in the liquid phase were investigated by means of ultrafast optical spectroscopy. Apart from molecular studies dealing with the highly spin-dependent reactivity of diphenylcarbene (DPC) in binary solvent mixtures and ligand dissociation reactions of so-called CO-releasing molecules (CORMs), special emphasis was put on the implementation and characterization of methods improving and extending the signal detection in conventional pump-probe transient absorption setups. The assumption of DPC being an archetypal triplet-ground-state arylcarbene was recently questioned by matrix-isolation studies at low temperatures. DPC embedded in argon matrices revealed a hitherto unknown reactivity when the carbene environment was modified by small amounts of methanol dopant molecules. To complement these findings with liquid-phase experiments at room temperature, femtosecond pump-probe transient absorption spectroscopy with probing in the visible and ultraviolet regime was employed to unravel primary reaction processes of DPC in solvent mixtures. Supported by quantum chemical simulations conducted by our collaborators, it was shown that a competition between the reaction pathways occurs that not only depends on the solvent molecule near-by but also on its interaction with other solvent molecules. In-depth analysis of the solvation dynamics and the amount of nascent intermediates corroborates the importance of a hydrogen-bonded complex with a protic solvent molecule, in striking analogy to complexes found at cryogenic temperatures. Probing the transient absorption of molecules in the mid-infrared spectral range benefits from the high chemical specificity of molecules' vibrational signatures. The technique of chirped-pulse upconversion (CPU) constitutes a promising alternative to standard direct multichannel MCT detection when accessing this spectral detection window. Hence, one chapter of this thesis is dedicated to a direct comparison between both detection methods. By conducting an exemplary pump-probe transient absorption experiment, it became evident, that the additional nonlinear interaction step is responsible for increased noise levels when using CPU. However, a correction procedure capable of removing these additional noise contributions—stemming from the fundamental laser radiation used for upconversion—was successfully tested. Perhaps most importantly for various spectroscopic applications, CPU scored with a significantly extended detection bandwidth owing to the high pixel numbers of modern CCD cameras. Transition-metal complexes capable of releasing small molecular messengers upon photoactivation are promising sources of gasotransmitters such as carbon monoxide (CO) or nitric oxide (NO) in biological applications. However, only little is known about the characteristic time scales of ligand dissociation in this class of molecules. For this purpose, two complexes were investigated with femtosecond time resolution: [Mn(CO)3(tpm)]Cl with tpm=tris(2-pyrazolyl)methane, a manganese tricarbonyl complex which has proven to be selective and cytotoxic to cancer cells, and [Mo(CO)2(NO)(iPr3tacn)]PF6 with iPr3tacn=1,4,7-triisopropyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane, a molybdenum complex containing both carbonyl and nitrosyl ligands. By conducting pump-probe transient absorption measurements in different spectral probing windows supported by quantum chemical calculations and linear absorption spectroscopy, it was shown that both complexes are able to release one CO ligand within the first few picoseconds after UV excitation. The results complement existing studies which focused on the molecules' ligand-releasing properties upon long-term exposure. The additional information gained on an ultrafast time scale provides a comprehensive understanding of individual reaction steps connected with ligand release in this class of molecules. Hence, the studies might create new incentives to develop modified molecules for specific applications.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kanal2015,
  author    = {Kanal, Florian},
  title     = {Femtosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy - Technical Improvements and Applications to Ultrafast Molecular Phenomena},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-118771},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Photoinduced processes are nowadays studied with a huge variety of spectroscopic methods. In the liquid phase, transient absorption spectroscopy is probably the most versatile pump-probe technique used to study light-induced molecular phenomena. Optical time-resolved spectroscopy is established in a large number of laboratories and is still further being developed with respect to many technical aspects. Nevertheless, the full potential of shortening the data-acquisition time—necessary for the investigation of rapidly photodegrading samples and observation of macroscopically fast processes—achievable with high-repetition-rate laser systems and shot-to-shot detection was not fully exploited. Especially, shot-to-shot detection is highly beneficial due to the high correlation of subsequent laser pulses. The development and implementation of 100 kHz broadband shot-to-shot data acquisition was presented in Chapter 3. For an established laser dye as a benchmark system, ultrafast excited-state dynamics were measured for the first time with broadband shot-to-shot detection at 100 kHz. An analysis of both the noise characteristics of the employed laser and the correlation of subsequent pulses quantified the advantage of shot-to-shot data acquisition. In the utilized software environment, the time for measuring a complete data set could be sped up by a factor of three or even higher compared to a laser system working at 1 kHz. So far, the limiting factor is the data processing and the movement of the mechanical delay stage. Nevertheless, the new shot-to-shot detection has the potential to shorten the measurement time up to a factor of 100. The data quality is improved by a factor of three when the hitherto conventional averaging scheme is compared to shot-to-shot acquisition for the same number of laser pulses. The expansion of shot-to-shot data acquisition for high repetition rates will allow studies on sensitive samples as exposure times can strongly be reduced to achieve the same signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, multidimensional spectroscopy can also be extended to high-repetition shot-to-shot readout allowing an efficient recording of data. Therefore, in future experiments, dynamics and couplings in sensitive samples and kinetic processes could be studied in more detail. Complex photophysical and photochemical phenomena are subject of many fields of research. Many of these multifaceted processes are not yet fully understood. Therefore, a possible approach is the elucidation of single reaction steps with the combination of transient absorption spectroscopy and a suitable, less complex model system. The systematic variation of the model system's properties and environments, e.g., by chemical substitution or adequate choice of the solvent allows the determination of essential entities and reactivities thereof. Proper knowledge of an individual intermediate step and its determining factors can enhance the understanding of the complete photoreaction process. The application of transient absorption spectroscopy was shown for the optically-induced electron transfer in a series of donor-acceptor oligomers in Chapter 4. In general, the solvent relaxation times were isolated from the back-electron-transfer dynamics by a global lifetime analysis. For the smallest oligomeric structure where complete charge separation is possible, an ultrafast equilibration leads to charge recombination from the configuration showing the lowest barrier for recombination. The back-electron transfer strongly depends on the utilized solvent. Whereas in dichloromethane the back-electron transfer occurs with the maximum rate in the barrierless optimal region, the dynamics in toluene are governed by a Marcus inverted-region effect. The experimentally observed rates were also estimated by theoretical calculations of the respective barriers. The study did not only successfully unravel charge transfer in the oligomeric systems but also improved the understanding of the electron-transfer properties of larger polymers from an earlier study. Therefore, the combination of length variation and time-resolved spectroscopy is an important step towards the correct prediction of charge-carrier dynamics in macroscopic devices, e.g., for photovoltaics. The bond dissociation of a carbon-monoxide-releasing molecule in aqueous solution was studied in Chapter 5 as a prototype reaction for the photo-triggered breaking of a bond. It was shown that upon excitation only one carbon-monoxide ligand of the tricarbonyl complex is dissociated. A fraction of the photolyzed molecules restore the intact initial complex by geminate recombination within the temporal resolution of the experiment. However, the recombination could be detected by the hot ground-state infrared absorption of the complex. The detectable dicarbonyl formed upon CO release distributes excess energy from the absorbed photon into low-frequency modes which result in broadened absorption bands like for the recombined tricarbonyl. The free coordination site in the ligand sphere is filled with a solvent water molecule. Despite numerous studies of metal carbonyls studied in alkaneous solutions, the elucidation of the dynamics of a CORM in aqueous solution added another important detail to the photochemistry of this class of compounds. Experiments employing a second ultraviolet pump pulse did not trigger further CO dissociation and hence no formation of a monocarbonyl species; this might either be due to a different release mechanism without a further photochemical step or a strong spectral shift of the dicarbonyl's absorption. Both reasons could explain why degenerate pump-repump-probe spectroscopy is inefficient. However, further experiments with ultraviolet probe pulses could substantiate whether the intermediate dicarbonyl reacts further photochemically or not. Apart from the model-system character of the CORM for bond dissociation, the study could determine exactly how many CO ligands are initially photolyzed off. Detailed knowledge of the release mechanism will affect the previous use and application as well as the further development of CORMs as therapeutic prodrugs to deliver high local concentrations of CO in cancerous or pathological tissue. Hence, the study of two-photon absorption properties which are important for in vivo applications of CORMs should be the main focus in further spectroscopic experiments. In Chapter 6, both abovementioned molecular phenomena—electron transfer and bond dissociation—were studied in combination. The photochemistry of a tetrazolium salt was studied in detail in a variety of different solvents. Being a relatively small molecule, the studied tetrazolium cation shows a multifaceted photochemistry and is therefore a textbook example for the combination of ultrafast molecular phenomena studied in different environments. Within femtoseconds, the tetrazolium ring is opened. The biradicalic species is then reduced via uptake of an electron from the solvent. The formation of the ring-open formazan photoproduct from this point of the reaction sequence on was excluded by experiments with acidic pH value of the solution. The ring-open radical is stabilized by ring-closure. The resulting tetrazolinyl radical was already observed in experiments with microsecond time resolution. However, its formation was observed in real time for the first time in this study. Irradiation of a tetrazoliumsalt solution yields different photoproduct distributions depending on the solvent. However, it was shown that all photoproducts have a tetrazolinyl radical as a common precursor on an ultrafast time scale. In combination with studies from the literature, the complete photochemical conversion of a tetrazolium salt was clarified in this study. Apart from the prototype character of the reaction sequence, the reaction mechanism will have impact on research associated with life science where tetrazolium assays are used on a daily basis without taking into account of photochemical conversion of the indicating tetrazolium ion and its photochemically formed reactive intermediates. On the basis of the tetrazolium-ion photochemistry, the rich photochemistry of the formazan photoproduct, including structural rearrangements and subsequent reformation of the tetrazolium ion, might be the subject of future studies. This thesis shows a method advancement and application of transient absorption spectroscopy to exemplary molecular model systems. The insights into each respective field did not only enlighten singular aspects, but have to be seen in a much larger context. Understanding complex photoinduced processes bottom-up by learning about their constituting steps—microscopically and on an ultrafast time scale—is an ideal method to approach understanding and prediction of phenomena in large molecular systems like biological or artificial architectures as for example used in photosynthetic light-harvesting and photovoltaics.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Steinbacher2015,
  author    = {Steinbacher, Andreas Edgar},
  title     = {Circular dichroism and accumulative polarimetry of chiral femtochemistry},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-116500},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {This work brings forward successful implementations of ultrafast chirality-sensitive spectroscopic techniques by probing circular dichroism (CD) or optical rotation dispersion (ORD). Furthermore, also first steps towards chiral quantum control, i.e., the selective variation of the chiral properties of molecules with the help of coherent light, are presented. In the case of CD probing, a setup capable of mirroring an arbitrary polarization state of an ultrashort laser pulse was developed. Hence, by passing a left-circularly polarized laser pulse through this setup a right-circularly polarized laser pulse is generated. These two pulse enantiomers can be utilized as probe pulses in a pump--probe CD experiment. Besides CD spectroscopy, it can be utilized for anisotropy or ellipsometry spectroscopy also. Within this thesis, the approach is used to elucidate the photochemistry of hemoglobin, the oxygen transporting protein in mammalian blood. The oxygen loss can be triggered with laser pulses as well, and the results of the time-resolved CD experiment suggest a cascade-like relaxation, probably through different spin states, of the metallo-porphyrins in hemoglobin. The ORD probing was realized via the combination of common-path optical heterodyne interferometric polarimetry and accumulative femtosecond spectroscopy. Within this setup, on the one hand the applicability of this approach for ultrafast studies was demonstrated explicitly. On the other hand, the discrimination between an achiral and a racemic solution without prior spatial separation was realized. This was achieved by inducing an enantiomeric excess via polarized femtosecond laser pulses and following its evolution with the developed polarimeter. Hence, chiral selectivity was already achieved with this method which can be turned into chiral control if the polarized laser pulses are optimized to steer an enhancement of the enantiomeric excess. Furthermore, within this thesis, theoretical prerequisites for anisotropy-free pump--probe experiments with arbitrary polarized laser pulses were derived. Due to the small magnitude of optical chirality-sensitve signals, these results are important for any pump--probe chiral spectroscopy, like the CD probing presented in this thesis. Moreover, since for chiral quantum control the variation of the molecular structure is necessary, the knowledge about rearrangement reactions triggered by photons is necessary. Hence, within this thesis the ultrafast Wolff rearrangement of an α-diazocarbonyl was investigated via ultrafast photofragment ion spectroscopy in the gas phase. Though the compound is not chiral, the knowledge about the exact reaction mechanism is beneficial for future studies of chiral compounds.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}