Ultrafast Quantum Interference in the Charge Migration of Tryptophan

Extreme-ultraviolet-induced charge migration in biorelevant molecules is a fundamental step in the complex path leading to photodamage. In this work we propose a simple interpretation of the charge migration recently observed in an attosecond pump–probe experiment on the amino acid tryptophan. We fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of physical chemistry letters 2020-02, Vol.11 (3), p.891-899
Main Authors: Perfetto, E, Trabattoni, A, Calegari, F, Nisoli, M, Marini, A, Stefanucci, G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Density Functional Theory
Phenylalanine - chemistry
Tryptophan - chemistry
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Summary:Extreme-ultraviolet-induced charge migration in biorelevant molecules is a fundamental step in the complex path leading to photodamage. In this work we propose a simple interpretation of the charge migration recently observed in an attosecond pump–probe experiment on the amino acid tryptophan. We find that the decay of the prominent low-frequency spectral structure with increasing pump–probe delay is due to a quantum beating between two geometrically distinct, almost degenerate charge oscillations. Quantum beating is ubiquitous in these systems, and at least on the few-to-tens of femtosecond time scales, it may dominate over decoherence the line intensities of time-resolved spectra. We also address the experimentally observed phase shift in the charge oscillations of two different amino acids, tryptophan and phenylalanine. Our results indicate that a beyond mean-field treatment of the electron dynamics is necessary to reproduce the correct behavior.
ISSN:1948-7185
1948-7185
DOI:10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b03517