Ultrafast Photoisomerization of Ethylene Studied Using Time-Resolved Extreme Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy

The photoisomerization of isolated ethylene (ethene) was observed in real time from the Franck-Condon region in the (1)pi pi* state to ground-state products using time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 21.7 eV) probe pulses. A combination of filamentation four-wave mixing and high-order harmonic generation was employed to obtain a temporal resolution of 31 +/- 2 fs. The nuclear wave packet created by a 160 nm pump pulse accesses C=C twisted geometries within 10 fs, and the population transfer from the excited to the ground state occurs within the next 20-30 fs. Formation of vibrationally highly excited ground-state molecules was observed in less than 45 fs, and they decayed with two time constants of 0.87 and >5 ps. The interpretation of the photoelectron spectra is supported by vertical ionization energies calculated using XMS-CASPT2 along geodesically interpolated reaction paths from the Franck-Condon region to the products.