Project Details
Projekt
Coherent Control of a Binary Reaction: Mg + H2
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Christiane Koch
Subject Area
Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
Term
from 2015 to 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 281241506
About thirty years ago, coherent control was conceived as a method to determine the fate of chemical reactions using laser fields. It has been extremely successful for destructive unimolecular processessuch as fragmention or dissociation but controlling the reverse, bimolecular process of bond formation still remains an unresolved puzzle. Within this project, we seek to demonstrate for the first time the coherent control of a complete gas-phase binary reaction. This includes the controlled formation (or photoassociation) of a new chemical bond, the controlled dynamics of the intermediate complex through a conical intersection, the controlled cleavage of another chemical bond as well as the stabilization of the reaction product. We consider a triatomic reaction which provides the simplest non-trivial model in which all these steps can be examined. The experimental part of the work will be carried out in a heat pipe, using strong, shaped near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. Theoretically, the reaction will be studied from first principles, combining ab initio electronic structure and molecular quantum dynamics calculations. The project builds on our earlier work demonstrating femtosecond multi-photonphotoassociation of magnesium dimers and its coherent control, generalizing it to a triatomic system with stable reaction products.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
International Connection
Israel
International Co-Applicant
Zohar Amitay, Ph.D.
