Zusammenfassung: This book illustrates advanced technologies for imaging electrons and atoms in action in various forms of matter, from atoms and diatoms to protein molecules and condensed matter. The technologies that are described employ ultrafast pulsed lasers, X-ray free electron lasers, and pulsed electron guns, with pulse durations from femtoseconds, suitable to visualize atoms in action, to attoseconds, needed to visualize ballistic electron motion. Advanced theories, indispensable for understanding such ultrafast imaging and spectroscopy data on electrons and atoms in action, are also described. The book consists of three parts. The first part describes probing methods of attosecond electron dynamics in atoms, molecules, liquids, and solids. The second part describes femtosecond structural dynamics and coupling of structural change and electron motion in molecules and solids The last part is dedicated to ultrafast photophysical processes and chemical reactions of protein molecules responsible for biological functions

The thesis provides the necessary experimental and analytical tools to unambiguously observe the atomically resolved chemical reactions. A great challenge of modern science has been to directly observe atomic motions during structural transitions, and while this was first achieved through a major advance in electron source brightness, the information content was still limited and new methods for image reconstruction using femtosecond electron diffraction methods were needed. One particular challenge lay in reconciling the innumerable possible nuclear configurations with the observation of chemical reaction mechanisms that reproducibly give the same kind of chemistry for large classes of molecules. The author shows that there is a simple solution that occurs during barrier crossing in which the highly anharmonic potential at that point in nuclear rearrangements couples high- and low-frequency vibrational modes to give highly localized nuclear motions, reducing hundreds of potential degrees of freedom to just a few key modes. Specific examples are given in this thesis, including two photoinduced phase transitions in an organic system, a ring closure reaction, and two direct observations of nuclear reorganization driven by spin transitions. The emerging field of structural dynamics promises to change the way we think about the physics of chemistry and this thesis provides tools to make it happen.

This invaluable book presents a systematic exposition of the current state of knowledge about conical intersections, which has been elaborated in research papers scattered throughout the chemical physics literature.

This book contains important contributions from top international scientists on the-state-of-the-art of femtochemistry and femtobiology at the beginning of the new millennium. It consists of reviews and papers on ultrafast dynamics in molecular science.The coverage of topics highlights several important features of molecular science from the viewpoint of structure (space domain) and dynamics (time domain). First of all, the book presents the latest developments, such as experimental techniques for understanding ultrafast processes in gas, condensed and complex systems, including biological molecules, surfaces and nanostructures. At the same time it stresses the different ways to control the rates and pathways of reactive events in chemistry and biology. Particular emphasis is given to biological processes as an area where femtodynamics is becoming very useful for resolving the structural dynamics from techniques such as electron diffraction, and X-ray and IR spectroscopy. Finally, the latest developments in quantum control (in both theory and experiment) and the experimental pulse-shaping techniques are described.

These two volumes on Femtochemistry present a timely contribution to a field central to the understanding of the dynamics of the chemical bond. This century has witnessed great strides in time and space resolutions, down to the atomic scale, providing chemists, biologists and physicists with unprecedented opportunities for seeing microscopic structures and dynamics. Femtochemistry is concerned with the time resolution of the most elementary motions of atoms during chemical change -- bond breaking and bond making -- on the femtosecond (10-15 second) time scale. This atomic scale of time resolution has now reached the ultimate for the chemical bond and as Lord George Porter puts it, chemists are near the end of the race against time. These two volumes cover the general concepts, techniques and applications of femtochemistry.Professor Ahmed Zewail, who has made the pioneering contributions in this field, has from over 250 publications selected the articles for this anthology. These volumes begin with a commentary and a historical chronology of the milestones. He then presents a broad perspective of the current state of knowledge in femtochemistry by researchers around the world and discusses possible new directions. In the words of a colleague, "it is a must on the reading-list for all of my students ... all readers will find this to be an informative and valuable overview."The introductory articles in Volume I provide reviews for both the non-experts as well as for experts in the field. This is followed by papers on the basic concepts. For applications, elementary reactions are studied first and then complex reactions. Volume I is complete with studies of solvation dynamics, non-reactive systems, ultrafast electron diffraction and the control of chemical reactions.Volume II continues with reaction rates, the concept of elementary intramolecular vibrational-energy redistribution (IVR) and the phenomena of rotational coherence which has become a powerful tool for the determination of molecular structure via time resolution. The second volume ends with an extensive list of references, according to topics, based on work by Professor Zewail and his group at Caltech.These collected works by Professor Zewail will certainly be indispensable to both experts and beginners in the field. The author is known for his clarity and for his creative and systematic contributions. These volumes will be of interest and should prove useful to chemists, biologists and physicists. As noted by Professor J Manz (Berlin) and Professor A W Castleman, Jr. (Penn State): femtochemistry is yielding exciting new discoveries from analysis to control of chemical reactions, with applications in many domains of chemistry and related fields, e.g., physical, organic and inorganic chemistry, surface science, molecular biology, ... etc.

The Encyclopedia of Modern Optics, Second Edition, Five Volume Set provides a wide-ranging overview of the field, comprising authoritative reference articles for undergraduate and postgraduate students and those researching outside their area of expertise. Topics covered include classical and quantum optics, lasers, optical fibers and optical fiber systems, optical materials and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Articles cover all subfields of optical physics and engineering, such as electro-optical design of modulators and detectors. This update contains contributions from international experts who discuss topics such as nano-photonics and plasmonics, optical interconnects, photonic crystals and 2D materials, such as graphene or holy fibers. Other topics of note include solar energy, high efficiency LED’s and their use in illumination, orbital angular momentum, quantum optics and information, metamaterials and transformation optics, high power fiber and UV fiber lasers, random lasers and bio-imaging. Addresses recent developments in the field and integrates concepts from fundamental physics with applications for manufacturing and engineering/design Provides a broad and interdisciplinary coverage of specialist areas Ensures that the material is appropriate for new researchers and those working in a new sub-field, as well as those in industry Thematically arranged and alphabetically indexed, with cross-references added to facilitate ease-of-use