Attochemical control of nuclear motion despite fast electronic decoherence

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Autori principali: Fransén, Lina, Gomez, Sandra, Vacher, Morgane
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Fransén, Lina
Gomez, Sandra
Vacher, Morgane
author_facet Fransén, Lina
Gomez, Sandra
Vacher, Morgane
contents Short-in-time, broad-in-energy attosecond or few-femtosecond pulses can excite coherent superpositions of several electronic states in molecules. This results in ultrafast charge oscillations known as charge migration. A key open question in the emerging field of attochemistry is whether these electron dynamics, which due to decoherence often last only for a few femtoseconds, can influence longer-time scale nuclear rearrangements. Herein, we address this question through full-dimensional quantum dynamics simulations of the coupled electron-nuclear dynamics initiated by ionization and coherent excitation of ethylene. The simulations of this prototype organic chromophore predict electronic coherences with half-lives of less than 1 fs. Despite their brevity, these electronic coherences induce vibrational coherences along the derivative coupling vectors that persist for at least 50 fs. These results suggest that short-lived electronic coherences can impart long-lasting legacies on nuclear motion, a finding of potential importance to the interpretation of attosecond experiments and the development of strategies for attochemical control.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_09345
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Attochemical control of nuclear motion despite fast electronic decoherence
Fransén, Lina
Gomez, Sandra
Vacher, Morgane
Chemical Physics
Short-in-time, broad-in-energy attosecond or few-femtosecond pulses can excite coherent superpositions of several electronic states in molecules. This results in ultrafast charge oscillations known as charge migration. A key open question in the emerging field of attochemistry is whether these electron dynamics, which due to decoherence often last only for a few femtoseconds, can influence longer-time scale nuclear rearrangements. Herein, we address this question through full-dimensional quantum dynamics simulations of the coupled electron-nuclear dynamics initiated by ionization and coherent excitation of ethylene. The simulations of this prototype organic chromophore predict electronic coherences with half-lives of less than 1 fs. Despite their brevity, these electronic coherences induce vibrational coherences along the derivative coupling vectors that persist for at least 50 fs. These results suggest that short-lived electronic coherences can impart long-lasting legacies on nuclear motion, a finding of potential importance to the interpretation of attosecond experiments and the development of strategies for attochemical control.
title Attochemical control of nuclear motion despite fast electronic decoherence
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.09345