Few-cycle laser driven reaction nanoscopy on aerosolized silica nanoparticles.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31604937.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-12580-0 and PMC identifier 6789024.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
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 SiO<sub>2</sub> 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 (M<sup>3</sup>C) 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.