We have openings for Bachelor thesis projects and internships

We encourage students interested in physical chemistry to apply for Bachelor thesis projects and internships. The span of possible topics is wide: from organic photochemistry (yield-based and/or time-resolved) over technical work based on femtosecond lasers (e.g. pulse characterization) to investigations of biological light harvesting systems. If you are interested, please get in contact with Jürgen Hauer.

Workshop on "Understanding ultrafast energy relaxation in biological systems – Theory meets experiment" in Raitenhaslach

Erika Keil organizied an international workshop on ultrafast processes in biological systems. All participants enjoyed the exchange of ideas and scientific presentations in the inspiring environment of TUM's Science and Study Center Raitenhaslach.

Workshop on Quantum Dynamics in Les Houches

Erika, Ajeet, Maximilian and Jürgen attended the summer school and/or workshop for "Quantum dynamics and spectroscopy of functional materials and biological photosystems" in Les Houches, France. The meeting and summer school were exciting and set in the breathtaking scenary of Mont Blanc.

Publication at The Journal of Chemical Physics

We are happy to announce our most recent publication in The Journal of Chemical Physics. In a collaboration with Maxim Gelin, we propose a novel time-resolved multidimensional fluorescence spectroscopic technique called 2D fluorescence excitation spectroscopy (2D-FLEX).

Publication at The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

After a long and intense wrting process, we are happy to announce that Yi Xu is the first author of a new publication at The Journal of Phyiscal Chemistry Letters. This work explains how transient absorption signals in a dyadic energy transfer system can be disentangled into pure donor and acceptor spectra by emplyoing polarization controlled spectroscopy. This paper stems from a collaboration between theory from František Šanda (Charles University in Prague) and organic synthesis form Heinz Langhals (LMU).

Publication at Journal of Chemical Physics

Ajeet Kumar is the first author of a recently accepted paper at JCP. This work stems from a collaboration within CRC 325, more specifically with the group around Joshua Barham at the University of Regensburg. In this work, we use an evolved transient absorption experiment to prove pre-association between a photocatalyst and its substrate.

 

Publication at Angewandte Chemie

In a collaboration driven by TUM's Thomas Fässler, we published an article in Angewandte Chemie. We investigate [Ge9] clusters, exhibiting an intense colour change upon protonation. Transient absorption spectroscopy and DFT calculations reveal ultrafast dynamics after photoexcitation leading to a charge-transfer between the cluster and its imine moiety.

We made the cover in Chemical Science!

Great news! Our recent article in Chemical Science made the cover. We employ a hybrid QM/MM model to identify energy traps and barriers in cyanobacterial photosystem I. The main driving force behind this article is Regina de Vivie Riedle and her group at LMU.

Publication in PCCP

We are happy to announce that we were part of an article entitled "Q-Band relaxation in chlorophyll: new insights from multireference quantum dynamics", published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, as part of the Festschrift Wolfgang E. Ernst: Electronic & Nuclear Dynamics in Molecules, Clusters, and on Surfaces. The article explains the ultrafast transfer times between the Qx and Qy states of chlorophylls based on high-level quantum dynamics. The main driving force behind the article is LMU's Regina de Vivie-Riedle and her group.

Published in JACS!

We proudly announce our recent publication in JACS. This work stems from shared efforts between theory (Regina de Vivie Riedle's group at LMU), synthesis (the group around Thorsten Bach, TUM) and spectroscopy (us and Giulio Cerullo at PoliMi). Such a truly multidisciplinary collaboration is fostered by the collaborative research center on assembly controlled chemical photocatalysis.

We made the cover in JPCB!

We are happy to announce that our article entitled "Understanding Carotenoid Dynamics via the Vibronic Energy Relaxation Approach" made the cover in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B. The article is a perspective and stems from a collaboration between the groups of Tomáš Polívka (University of South Bohemia) and Chirs D. P. Duffy (Queen Mary University of London).

 

Erika Keil is attending the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting

We are happy to announce that Erika Keil is invited to attend the 71st Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau. This prestigious meeting selects attendees in a review process to then provide forum for exchange between Nobel Laureates and young scientists. Congratulations, Erika!

New publication in The Journal of the American Chemical Society

Our manuscript entitled "Reduced Molecular Flavins as Single-Electron Reductants after Photoexcitation" was recently accepted at The Journal of the American Chemical Society. In a collaboration led by Golo Storch, we show the potential of reduced molecular flavins in photocatalytic reactions. This work stems from a collaboration within CRC 325 - Assembly Controlled Chemical Photocatalysis.

 

New publication in The Journal of Chemical Physics

Our manuscript entitled "Correlated spectral fluctuations quantified by line shape analysis of fifth-order two-dimensional electronic spectra" was recently accepted at The Journal of Chemical Physics. We show how 5th order 2D spectroscopy can determine the degree and sign of correlated spectral fluctuations. Such motion was suggested to play a role in excitation transport in natural light harvesting complexes. The article is part of a special issue on "Photosynthetic Light Harvesting and Energy Conversion."

 

New publication in Optics Express

We are happy to announce that our manuscript entitled "Achromatic frequency doubling of supercontinuum pulses for transient absorption spectroscopy" was recently accepted at Optics Express. The light source described in this paper will let us trigger photophysical and photochemical events in the near UV and blue-green spectral region. This sets the stage for the study of light harvesting dynamics in e.g. green algae and for an in-depth description of photocatalytic events. The paper is also Erika's first leading author publication, congratulations!

 

Part of a new transregio cooperative research centre

Our group is proud to be a part of the transregio collaborative research centre (SFB/TRR) "Assembly controlled chemical photocatalysis" between TUM, Universität Regensburg, LMU and Universität Leipzig. The general aim is the development of novel photocatalytic systems for organic synthesis by controlling the interaction between the catalyst and its reaction partners.

 

Article selected as "2020 Editors' Choice" in JCP

Our article "Intraband dynamics and exciton trapping in the LH2 complex of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila" was selected to be part of the collection 2020 Editors' Choice in the Journal of Chemical Physics. This collection features "the most innovative and influential articles in chemical physics and physical chemistry each year." and will be available free of charge until the end of 2021.

 

New article published in "The Journal of Chemical Physics"

In collaboration with the group around Donatas Zigmantas in Lund, we recently published an article in The Journal of Chemical Physics, entitled "Intraband dynamics and exciton trapping in the LH2 complex of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila". The article was part of a special issue on "Excitons: Energetics and Spatio-temporal Dynamics".

New article just published in "Review of Scientific Instruments"

In a collaboration with Walter Schottky Institute, we published a setup that allows for the interferometric detection of photocurrent excitation spectra. The article entitled "Time-domain photocurrent spectroscopy basedon a common-path birefringent interferometer" was generously supported by the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering - IGSSE.

New article published in "Frontiers in Chemistry"

Our article entitled "Anharmonic Molecular Motion Drives Resonance Energy Transfer in peri-Arylene Dyads" was recently published in Frontiers in Chemistry. The article is part of a special issue on Vibrationally-Mediated Chemical Dynamics. This work represents the result of a long-standing collaboration between us and Tomáš Mančal, František Šanda, (both Charles University in Prague) and LMU's Heinz Langhals.

New article just accepted at The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

We are happy to announce that The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters accepted our article entitled "Annihilation Dynamics of Molecular Excitons Measured at a Single Perturbative Excitation Energy" for publicaiton. In a collabroration between organic synthetic chemistry (C. Lambert), quantum chemistry (F. Plasser, M. Menger) and theory (F. Šanda), we use fifth order multidimensional spectroscopy as a sensitive probe for exciton-exciton annihilation dynamics.


Three papers in one special issue

Our group had the pleassure of contributing a total of three papers to a special issue in Chemical Physics honouring Leonas Valkunas. The topics we cover range from fifth order multidimensional spectroscopy, a theoretical study of exciton-exciton annihilation to  a generalized Huang-Rhys factor for molecular aggregates.