21–25 Sept 2026
Paul Scherrer Institut
Europe/Zurich timezone

Session

Chemistry

21 Sept 2026, 14:00
Auditorium (WHGA/001) (Paul Scherrer Institut)

Auditorium (WHGA/001)

Paul Scherrer Institut

Conveners

Chemistry

  • Claudio Cirelli (PSI - Paul Scherrer Institut)

Chemistry

  • There are no conveners in this block

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.

  1. Nanna Holmgaard List (KTH Royal Institute of Technology; University of Birmingham)
    21/09/2026, 14:00
    Invited

    Can nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations predict a photochemical experiment before it is performed? I will discuss this question through the recent cyclobutanone prediction challenge, in which several theory groups predicted the photochemistry and ultrafast electron diffraction signal following 200 nm excitation. The results showed that current methods can often capture the main...

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  2. Dr Xinhua Xie (PSI - Paul Scherrer Institut)
    21/09/2026, 14:25
    Invited

    Photodissociation of cyclobutanone following 200 nm excitation has been extensively studied as a model system for nonadiabatic dynamics in cyclic ketones. Previous studies have shown that excitation populates the S₂ state, followed by rapid internal conversion through S₁ to the ground state S0 via conical intersections. The resulting vibrationally hot ground-state molecules undergo ring...

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  3. Seonggon Lee (ETH Zurich)
    21/09/2026, 14:50
    Chemistry
    Oral

    A central tenet of attochemistry is charge-directed reactivity: ionization launches a valence hole whose motion and eventual localization across a molecule can predetermine the ensuing dynamics [1]. Yet, despite successes in capturing attosecond electron dynamics, their causal link to reaction dynamics, particularly in liquid solutions, has remained experimentally elusive. Concentrated aqueous...

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  4. Elisa Pauline Pascale Collet (IMDEA Nanoscience)
    21/09/2026, 15:05
    Solid State Physics
    Oral

    Semiconductor CuInS$_2$ (CIS) quantum dots (QDs) are highly promising for optoelectronic applications for their low toxicity, excellent charge-transport properties, and remarkable photoluminescence features. To develop our fundamental understanding of nanoscale photo-physics and optimize the design of devices, several mechanisms of recombination in CIS QDs have been proposed, modelling the...

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  5. Antoine Sarracini (PSI - Paul Scherrer Institut)
    21/09/2026, 15:20
    Chemistry
    Invited

    Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) is a fundamental class of photochemical reactions in which the absorption of light triggers both charge transfer and a change in hydrogen bonding on the excited state potential surface in molecules where a hydrogen donor and acceptor group are in close proximity to one another. The distinct proton and electron transfer steps may occur sequentially or...

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  6. Joost Bakker (HFML-FELIX & Radboud University)
    23/09/2026, 11:00
    Chemistry
    Invited

    Gas-phase metal clusters can act as idealized model systems for the active sites of more complex catalysts, allowing for studies aimed at a fundamental understanding of metal-molecule interactions. In these experiments, we focus on understanding the adsorption of simple molecules on the model catalysts and establish the influence of local geometric and electronic structure as well as elemental...

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  7. Björn Senfftleben (ETH Zürich)
    23/09/2026, 11:25
    AMO Physics
    Oral

    Achieving a molecular-level understanding of complex chemical reactions requires a detailed mapping of their elementary dynamics. Among these, charge transfer during two-body molecular dissociation has been investigated in pioneering experiments as a function of the distance between the two separating fragments (see e.g., Erk et al. 2014 and Schnorr et al. 2014). Here we build upon a study by...

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  8. Paola Di Pietro (Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste)
    23/09/2026, 11:40
    Solid State Physics
    Oral

    Ultrafast nonlinear terahertz (THz) spectroscopy is applied at the TeraFERMI beamline of the Italian FERMI free electron laser (FEL), where intense (multi MV/cm peak field), broadband (up to 4 THz) and ultrashort (< ps) THz pulses are generated by coherent transition radiation from the relativistic electron bunches of the FEL [1].
    The beamline allows addressing the THz nonlinear properties of...

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  9. Jae Hyuk Lee (Pohang Accelerator Laboratory)
    23/09/2026, 11:55
    Chemistry
    Poster

    The Femtosecond X-ray Liquidography (FXL) endstation at PAL-XFEL is dedicated to femtosecond X-ray studies of solution-phase and condensed-phase samples. It combines femtosecond XFEL pulses with synchronized optical laser excitation and supports time-resolved X-ray scattering, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray emission spectroscopy, and time-resolved crystallography over an X-ray energy...

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  10. Eleonora Spurio (CNR)
    23/09/2026, 12:10
    Solid State Physics
    Oral

    Metal oxides exhibit remarkable catalytic properties that make them promising candidates for efficient photoelectrochemical applications. Carrier lifetime and mobility play a key role in determining their catalytic performance, making it crucial to investigate the ultrafast electronic and structural dynamics induced by photoexcitation. In CeO₂, functionality relies on the reversible exchange...

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  11. Andre Al Haddad (PSI - Paul Scherrer Institut)
    23/09/2026, 12:25
    Oral

    The K edges of light elements reveal the crucial role of the ligands in mediating ultrafast decay cascades. In this talk, I will present our investigation of a prototypical spin crossover complex, iron II trisbipyridine. Upon optical excitation, the ensemble of molecules undergoes a cascade of relaxation processes starting from the singlet states, intersystem crossing to the triplet state, and...

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  12. Carles Serrat (Polytechnic University of Catalonia)
    Chemistry
    Invited

    Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements of aqueous L-cysteine solutions were performed at the SPB/SFX instrument of the European XFEL using train-resolved acquisition with the AGIPD detector. Detecting weak sample-dependent signals under XFEL conditions is challenging because the measured contrast is often dominated by normalization uncertainties, beam fluctuations, detector effects,...

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  13. Markus Scholz (Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron DESY)
    Invited

    It is a long-standing goal of surface and interface science to simultaneously image atomic positions, molecular orbital wavefunctions, and electronic-state dynamics as bonds and bands rearrange in time. Here, we realize this in a single experimental scheme by combining four modalities of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy: trARPES, tr-orbital tomography, trXPS, and trXPD—using ultrashort...

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