Mapping molecular orientation and conformation at interfaces by surface nonlinear optics

X. Zhuang; P. B. Miranda; D. Kim; Y. R. Shen

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.59.12632

Mapping molecular orientation and conformation at interfaces by surface nonlinear optics

X. Zhuang, P. B. Miranda, D. Kim, and Y. R. Shen

Phys. Rev. B 59, 12632 – Published 15 May 1999

Abstract

Second-order nonlinear optics can be used to quantitatively determine the orientation of chemical bonds or submoieties of a fairly complicated molecule at an interface, and therefore completely map out its orientation and conformation. As a specific example, we have studied pentyl-cyanoterphenyl molecules at the air-water interface. We have measured the orientation of all three parts of the molecule (cyano head group, terphenyl ring, and pentyl chain) by optical second-harmonic generation and infrared-visible sum-frequency generation. A quantitatively consistent picture of the molecular configuration has been obtained. The technique can be applied to situations where other methods would fail (e.g., the surface of neat liquids or buried interfaces).

Received 6 November 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.59.12632

Authors & Affiliations

X. Zhuang^*, P. B. Miranda, D. Kim^†, and Y. R. Shen^‡

Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-7300
Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720

^*Present address: Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
^†Present address: Department of Physics, Sogang University, Seoul, 100-611, Korea.
^‡Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic address: shenyr@socrates.berkeley.edu

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Vol. 59, Iss. 19 — 15 May 1999

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covering condensed matter and materials physics