Time resolved observation of the solvation dynamics of a Rydberg excited molecule deposited on an argon cluster-I: DABCO* at short times.

This paper is a joint experimental and theoretical approach concerning a molecule deposited on a large argon cluster. The spectroscopy and the dynamics of the deposited molecule are measured using the photoelectron spectroscopy. The absorption spectrum of the deposited molecule shows two solvation sites populated in the ground state. The combined dynamics reveals that the population ratio of the two sites is reversed when the molecule is electronically excited. This work provides the timescale of the corresponding solvation dynamics. Theoretical calculation supports the interpretation. More generally, close examination of the short time dynamics (0-6 ps) of DABCO···Ar(n) gives insights into the ultrafast relaxation dynamics of molecules deposited at interfaces and provides hence the time scale for deposited molecules to adapt to their neighborhoods.