posted on 2016-12-20, 00:00authored byJohannes von Vangerow, François Coppens, Antonio Leal, Martí Pi, Manuel Barranco, Nadine Halberstadt, Frank Stienkemeier, Marcel Mudrich
The
real-time dynamics of excited alkali metal atoms (Rb) attached
to quantum fluid He nanodroplets is investigated using femtosecond
imaging spectroscopy and time-dependent density functional theory.
We disentangle the competing dynamics of desorption of excited Rb
atoms off the He droplet surface and solvation inside the droplet
interior as the Rb atom is ionized. For Rb excited to the 5p and 6p
states, desorption occurs on starkly differing time scales (∼100
versus ∼1 ps, respectively). The comparison between theory
and experiment indicates that desorption proceeds either impulsively
(6p) or in a transition regime between impulsive dissociation and
complex desorption (5p).