Control of Chemical Reactions by Feedback-Optimized Phase-Shaped Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Tailored femtosecond laser pulses from a computer-controlled pulse shaper were used to optimize the branching ratios of different organometallic photodissociation reaction channels. The optimization procedure is based on the feedback from reaction product quantities in a learning evolutionary algori...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1998-10, Vol.282 (5390), p.919-922
Main Authors: Assion, A., Baumert, T., Bergt, M., Brixner, T., Kiefer, B., Seyfried, V., Strehle, M., Gerber, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Chemical bonding
Chemical lasers
Chemical reactions
Chemistry
Computers
Electric fields
Electronic Equipment
Energy
Evolutionary algorithms
Exact sciences and technology
General and physical chemistry
Laser beams
Lasers
Lasers in chemistry
Light
Mathematics
Molecules
Photochemistry
Photolysis
Physical chemistry of induced reactions (with radiations, particles and ultrasonics)
rev genes
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Summary:Tailored femtosecond laser pulses from a computer-controlled pulse shaper were used to optimize the branching ratios of different organometallic photodissociation reaction channels. The optimization procedure is based on the feedback from reaction product quantities in a learning evolutionary algorithm that iteratively improves the phase of the applied femtosecond laser pulse. In the case of CpFe(CO)$_2$Cl, it is shown that two different bond-cleaving reactions can be selected, resulting in chemically different products. At least in this case, the method works automatically and finds optimal solutions without previous knowledge of the molecular system and the experimental environment.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.282.5390.919