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Cover Picture: Picosecond Melting of Ice by an Infrared Laser Pulse: A Simulation Study (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 8/2008)
Author(s) -
Caleman Carl,
van der Spoel David
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.200890024
Subject(s) - cover (algebra) , infrared , picosecond , materials science , laser , chemistry , optics , physics , engineering , mechanical engineering
Ultrafast heating of ice by laser pulses, and subsequent melting, is described using simulations by van der Spoel and C. Caleman in their Communication on page 1417 ff. Heating is induced by a femtosecond laser with frequency corresponding to the OH bond vibration. Melting, like freezing, is demonstrated to start through nucleation. The laser pulse induces a short deviation from equilibrium: about 1 ps after the pulse, the OH vibrational energy is transferred to rotational (libration) modes, and after another 3–6 ps, the energy is equally distributed over all degrees of freedom.