Coherent Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy of Vibrational Excitons in Hydrogen-Bonded Liquids.

摘要

The structure and structural dynamics of hydrogen bonded liquids were studied experimentally and theoretically with coherent two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) spectroscopy. The resonant intermolecular interactions within the fully resonant hydrogen bond networks give access to spatial correlations in the dynamics of the liquid structures. New experimental and theoretical tools were developed that significantly reduced the technical challenges of these studies. A nanofluidic flow device was designed and manufactured providing sub-micron thin, actively stabilized liquid sample layers between similarly thin windows. A simulation protocol for nonlinear vibrational response calculations of disordered fluctuating vibrational excitons was developed that allowed for the first treatment of resonant intermolecular interactions in the 2DIR response of liquid water.;The linear and 2DIR response of the amide I mode in neat liquid formamide was found to be dominated by excitonic effects due to largely delocalized vibrational excitations. The spectral response and dynamics are very sensitive to the excitonic mode structure and infrared activity distributions, leading to a pronounced asymmetry of linear and 2DIR line shapes. This was attributed to structurally different species in the liquid characterized by their degree of medium range structural order. The response is dominated by energy transfer effects, sensitive to time-averaged medium range structural order, while being essentially insensitive to structural dynamics. This work is the first to recognize the importance of energy transfer contributions to the 2DIR response in a liquid, and provides additional proof of the well-structured character of liquid formamide.;The 2DIR spectrum of the O-H stretching vibration of pure liquid water was studied experimentally at different temperatures. At ambient conditions the loss of frequency correlations is extremely fast, and is attributed to very efficient modulations of the two-dimensional O-H stretching vibrational potential through librational motions in the hydrogen bond network. At temperatures near freezing, the librational motions are significantly reduced leading to a pronounced slowing down of spectral diffusion dynamics. Comparison with energy transfer time scales revealed the first direct proof of delocalization of the vibrational excitations. This work establishes a fundamentally new view of vibrations in liquid water by providing a spatial length scale of correlated hydrogen-bond motions.