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Transient Anisotropy of Liquid Water

Invited

Abstract

The solvation of molecules in water is pivotal for a myriad of molecular phenomena and is of crucial importance to understand diverse issues such as chemical reactivity and biomolecular function. It has been shown that laser techniques in the infrared (IR) and Terahertz (THz) frequency ranges offer fundamental insights into hydration from small solutes to proteins. In bulk liquid, motions of water molecules lead to ultrafast fluctuations at femto- to pico-second time scales. Underlying molecular processes range from diffusional motions spanning nanoseconds, rattling modes of anions and cations within their solvation shells on a ps time scale, the breaking and reformation of hydrogen bonds, and includes sub-100 fs librational motions. Here we report unprecedented non-linear THz experiments on water molecules in the liquid phase. This novel finding indicate that inducing anisotropy in bulk liquids is feasible.

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Presenters

  • Fabio Novelli

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

Authors

  • Fabio Novelli

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Luis Ruiz Pestana

    Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Departments of Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular

  • Kochise Bennett

    Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Departments of Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular

  • Nils Dessmann

    Radboud University, FELIX Laboratory, Toernooiveld 7, Nijmegen, Netherlands

  • Federico Sebastiani

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Ellen Adams

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Kamyar Saeedi Ilkhchy

    Radboud University, FELIX Laboratory, Toernooiveld 7, Nijmegen, Netherlands

  • Nikolas Stavrias

    Radboud University, FELIX Laboratory, Toernooiveld 7, Nijmegen, Netherlands

  • Viktoria Eless

    Radboud University, FELIX Laboratory, Toernooiveld 7, Nijmegen, Netherlands

  • Thorsten Ockelmann

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Alejandro Colchero

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Claudius Hoberg

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Gerhard Schwaab

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

  • Teresa Head-Gordon

    Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Departments of Chemistry, Chemical and Biomolecular, University of California, Berkeley, Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

  • Martina Havenith

    Department of Physical Chemistry II, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany