Abstract
Resonant optical excitation of a molecule on a time scale that is short compared to a vibrational period generates a coherent superposition of vibrational states on the ground-and excited-state molecular potential surfaces. The evolution of these nonstationary vibrational states, or wave packets, can be detected as oscillations and time-dependent spectral shifts hi the optical response. Wave-packet dynamics have previously been observed in dye molecules using femtosecond laser techniques.1 In this work, we have observed nonstationary vibrational states in a photochemically active protein, bacteriorhodopsin, in which the retinal Chromophore undergoes a light-induced torsional isomerisation.2 The measurements were performed using pulses of 12-fs duration, sufficiently short to impulsively excite all the dominant active modes of the chromophore.
© 1992 Optical Society of America
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