Research Theme

Elucidation of function, structure, and dynamics of condensed-phase molecular systems by advanced ultrafast laser spectroscopy

Keywords

Ultrafast spectroscopy, Nonlinear spectroscopy, Chemical reaction dynamics, Ultrashort pulse generation and control

One of the frontiers in modern chemical science today is to elucidate how functional complex molecules, such as proteins, achieve sophisticated functionalities. Understanding their underlying molecular mechanisms provides not only a deeper understanding of the exquisite directionality and efficiency of particular chemical reactions they achieve but also design strategies for creating further sophisticated artificial molecular systems and materials. In this quest, it is desired to elucidate molecular dynamics from the reactant down to the product with electronic/structural details and with temporal resolution as high as possible.
   We develop advanced ultrafast laser spectroscopic techniques based on state-of-the-art optical technology and study chemical reaction dynamics in functional complex molecules. In particular, we use ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy based on few-cycle pulses and track the change of the electronic/vibrational structure during the chemical reaction with a high temporal resolution down to 10 fs, aiming to find out causal molecular events for functioning. We also develop a new method and light source to realize such extreme ultrafast spectroscopic experiments at the single-molecule level in the condensed phase at room temperature. With these approaches, we aim to establish a new avenue for the study of chemical reaction dynamics.

Fig. 1 Setup for advanced ultrafast spectroscopy based on few-cycle pulses. 

Selected Publications

1. H. Kuramochi, and T. Tahara, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 9699-9717 (2021).
2. H. Kuramochi, G. Aoyama, H. Okajima, A. Sakamoto, S. Kanegawa, O. Sato, S. Takeuchi, and T. Tahara, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 59, 15865-15869 (2020).
3. H. Kuramochi, S. Takeuchi, H. Kamikubo, M. Kataoka, and T. Tahara, Sci. Adv. 5, eaau4490 (2019).
4. H. Kuramochi, S. Takeuchi, M. Iwamura, K. Nozaki, and T. Tahara, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 19296-19303 (2019).
5. H. Kuramochi, S. Takeuchi, K. Yonezawa, H. Kamikubo, M. Kataoka, and T. Tahara, Nat. Chem. 9, 660-666 (2017).
6. T. Fujisawa, H. Kuramochi, H. Hosoi, S. Takeuchi, and T. Tahara, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 138, 3942-3945 (2016).
7. H. Kuramochi, S. Takeuchi, and T. Tahara, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 043107 (2016).