Atto-second Dynamics in Molecular Systems

Abstract

The thesis describes the attosecond dynamics of small molecular systems, focusing on ionization delay times and hole migration delay times. These time delays are some of the fastest events in electronic dynamics. When an electromagnetic pulse with sufficient energy interacts with a molecule, an electron is released to the free state and subsequently a positive charge, a hole, is created in the molecule. The time scale of the hole dynamics in the molecule is comparable with the time scale of the ionization process. We have used simple mathematical models and molecular quantum chemistry calculations to analyze the coupled ionization process and hole dynamics focusing on their time scales.