Few-cycle laser driven reaction nanoscopy on aerosolized silica nanoparticles

Rupp, Philipp, Burger, Christian, Kling, Nora G., Kuebel, Matthias, Mitra, Sambit, Rosenberger, Philipp, Weatherby, Thomas, Saito, Nariyuki, Itatani, Jiro, Alnaser, Ali S., Raschke, Markus B., Ruehl, Eckart, Schlander, Annika, Gallei, Markus, Seiffert, Lennart, Fennel, Thomas, Bergues, Boris and Kling, Matthias F. (2019): Few-cycle laser driven reaction nanoscopy on aerosolized silica nanoparticles. In: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, 4655

Abstract

Nanoparticles offer unique properties as photocatalysts with large surface areas. Under irradiation with light, the associated near-fields can induce, enhance, and control molecular adsorbate reactions on the nanoscale. So far, however, there is no simple method available to spatially resolve the near-field induced reaction yield on the surface of nanoparticles. Here we close this gap by introducing reaction nanoscopy based on three-dimensional momentum-resolved photoionization. The technique is demonstrated for the spatially selective proton generation in few-cycle laser-induced dissociative ionization of ethanol and water on SiO2 nanoparticles, resolving a pronounced variation across the particle surface. The results are modeled and reproduced qualitatively by electrostatic and quasi-classical mean-field Mie Monte-Carlo ((MC)-C-3) calculations. Reaction nanoscopy is suited for a wide range of isolated nanosystems and can provide spatially resolved ultrafast reaction dynamics on nanoparticles, clusters, and droplets.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Physics
• Subjects: 500 Science > 530 Physics
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• Language: English