Descripción del proyecto
La ciencia de los attosegundos abre una nueva ventana al control de las reacciones fotoquímicas
Los procesos químicos iniciados por la luz están muy extendidos y sus aplicaciones abarcan ámbitos vitales de la investigación molecular que van desde la medicina y la informática hasta la conversión de energía. Sin embargo, las reacciones fotoquímicas están limitadas por la naturaleza y el número finito de estados electrónicos excitados de las moléculas y, por tanto, suelen carecer de control y selectividad. Para superar esta limitación fundamental, el equipo del proyecto financiado con fondos europeos ATTOP llevará los recientes avances tecnológicos de la ciencia de los attosegundos a la fotoquímica y explorará el campo emergente de la «attofotoquímica» aplicando enfoques de modelización. El objetivo final es desarrollar conocimientos técnicos generales para diseñar sistemas moleculares, paquetes de ondas electrónicas y experimentos de attosegundos que transformen el resultado de las reacciones fotoquímicas para diversas aplicaciones.
Objetivo
"ATTOP is a theoretical chemistry project that will explore the synergy between the two fields of attoscience and photochemistry. Chemical processes initiated by light are extremely widespread and their applications cover vital molecular research fields from medicine to computer science and energy conversion. However, photochemical reactions are limited by the nature and finite number of molecular electronic excited states. To overcome this fundamental limitation, ATTOP proposes to bring very recent technological progress in extreme ultrashort light pulses - attosecond science - to the field of photochemistry and to launch the unprecedented field of ""atto-photochemistry"". Indeed, light pulses of such short duration have a large spectral bandwidth and excite multiple electronic excited states in a simultaneous and coherent manner. This superposition, called an ""electronic wavepacket"", has a new electronic distribution and is thus expected to lead to a new reactivity. The following questions remain for now unresolved: what would be the reactivity of a molecule in these new types of electronic states that are becoming accessible experimentally? To what extent will the manipulation of an electronic wavepacket produced by an attosecond domain pulse transform the outcome of chemical reactions? As an emerging field, atto-photochemistry requires theoretical support right from the start. Thanks to the PI's unique combination of expertise in both theoretical attoscience and photochemistry, the ATTOP team will describe accurately chemical reactions induced by electronic wavepackets via attosecond domain pulses. The final aim of ATTOP is to develop a general know-how to design molecular systems, electronic wavepackets and attosecond experiments that transform the outcome of photochemical reactions for diverse applications. By doing so, atto-photochemistry will revolutionize photochemistry, with direct impact onto many other domains of molecular science."
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
75794 Paris
Francia