Descrizione del progetto
La scienza ad attosecondi apre una nuova finestra sul controllo delle reazioni fotochimiche
I processi chimici avviati dalla luce sono diffusi e le loro applicazioni coprono aree essenziali della ricerca molecolare, che vanno dalla medicina e l’informatica alla conversione di energia. Ciononostante, le reazioni fotochimiche sono limitate dalla natura e dal numero finito degli stati elettronici eccitati di molecole, per cui sono spesso prive di controllo e selettività. Per superare questo limite fondamentale, il progetto ATTOP, finanziato dall’UE, integrerà i recenti progressi tecnologici compiuti in materia di scienza ad attosecondi nella fotochimica ed esplorerà questo campo emergente, l’«atto-fotochimica», utilizzando approcci di modellizzazione. L’obiettivo finale è quello di sviluppare competenze generali nella progettazione di sistemi molecolari, pacchetti di onde ed esperimenti sulla scala degli attosecondi, che trasformeranno gli esiti delle reazioni fotochimiche per varie applicazioni.
Obiettivo
"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."
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsIstituzione ospitante
75794 Paris
Francia