21.05.2019 - Nicolas Sisourat "Efficient long range high energy transfer processes: Interatomic Coulombic Decay and Interatomic Coulombic Electron Capture"

Efficient long range high energy transfer processes: Interatomic Coulombic Decay and Interatomic Coulombic Electron Capture

Energy transfer between atoms and molecules mediates numerous elementary processes. During the seminar, I will present two recently discovered long range high energy transfer mechanisms, namely the Interatomic Coulombic Decay (ICD) and the Interatomic Coulombic Electron Capture (ICEC). ICD is a general and efficient non-radiative electronic decay process which takes place when the excess energy of a donor species is sufficient to ionise a neighbouring acceptor atom or molecule. ICEC is an environment assisted process in which a free electron can efficiently attach to an ion, atom or molecule. As in ICD, the excess energy of the electron attachment is transferred to a neighbour which is thus ionised. Both ICD and ICEC are ultrafast processes driven by the electronic correlation between the two microscopic objects. I will first give an overview on our current knowledge on these two processes. I will then summarise the theoretical development and the studies our group has recently made to push forward our understanding of ICD and ICEC.