@article{WolfSanchezYangetal.2019,
  author    = {Wolf, Thomas J. A. and Sanchez, David M. and Yang, J. and Parrish, R. M. and Nunes, J. P. F. and Centurion, M. and Coffee, R. and Cryan, J. P. and G{\"u}hr, Markus and Hegazy, Kareem and Kirrander, Adam and Li, R. K. and Ruddock, J. and Shen, Xiaozhe and Vecchione, T. and Weathersby, S. P. and Weber, Peter M. and Wilkin, K. and Yong, Haiwang and Zheng, Q. and Wang, X. J. and Minitti, Michael P. and Martinez, Todd J.},
  title     = {The photochemical ring-opening of 1,3-cyclohexadiene imaged by ultrafast electron diffraction},
  series = {Nature chemistry},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {Nature chemistry},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Nature Publ. Group},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {1755-4330},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41557-019-0252-7},
  pages     = {504 -- 509},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The ultrafast photoinduced ring-opening of 1,3-cyclohexadiene constitutes a textbook example of electrocyclic reactions in organic chemistry and a model for photobiological reactions in vitamin D synthesis. Although the relaxation from the photoexcited electronic state during the ring-opening has been investigated in numerous studies, the accompanying changes in atomic distance have not been resolved. Here we present a direct and unambiguous observation of the ring-opening reaction path on the femtosecond timescale and subangstrom length scale using megaelectronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction. We followed the carbon-carbon bond dissociation and the structural opening of the 1,3-cyclohexadiene ring by the direct measurement of time-dependent changes in the distribution of interatomic distances. We observed a substantial acceleration of the ring-opening motion after internal conversion to the ground state due to a steepening of the electronic potential gradient towards the product minima. The ring-opening motion transforms into rotation of the terminal ethylene groups in the photoproduct 1,3,5-hexatriene on the subpicosecond timescale.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{YangZhuWolfetal.2018,
  author    = {Yang, Jie and Zhu, Xiaolei and Wolf, Thomas J. A. and Li, Zheng and Nunes, Jo{\~a}o Pedro Figueira and Coffee, Ryan and Cryan, James P. and G{\"u}hr, Markus and Hegazy, Kareem and Heinz, Tony F. and Jobe, Keith and Li, Renkai and Shen, Xiaozhe and Veccione, Theodore and Weathersby, Stephen and Wilkin, Kyle J. and Yoneda, Charles and Zheng, Qiang and Martinez, Todd J. and Centurion, Martin and Wang, Xijie},
  title     = {Imaging CF3I conical intersection and photodissociation dynamics with ultrafast electron diffraction},
  series = {Science},
  volume    = {361},
  journal   = {Science},
  number    = {6397},
  publisher = {American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0036-8075},
  doi       = {10.1126/science.aat0049},
  pages     = {64 -- 67},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Conical intersections play a critical role in excited-state dynamics of polyatomic molecules because they govern the reaction pathways of many nonadiabatic processes. However, ultrafast probes have lacked sufficient spatial resolution to image wave-packet trajectories through these intersections directly. Here, we present the simultaneous experimental characterization of one-photon and two-photon excitation channels in isolated CF3I molecules using ultrafast gas-phase electron diffraction. In the two-photon channel, we have mapped out the real-space trajectories of a coherent nuclear wave packet, which bifurcates onto two potential energy surfaces when passing through a conical intersection. In the one-photon channel, we have resolved excitation of both the umbrella and the breathing vibrational modes in the CF3 fragment in multiple nuclear dimensions. These findings benchmark and validate ab initio nonadiabatic dynamics calculations.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{YangGuehrShenetal.2016,
  author    = {Yang, Jie and Guehr, Markus and Shen, Xiaozhe and Li, Renkai and Vecchione, Theodore and Coffee, Ryan and Corbett, Jeff and Fry, Alan and Hartmann, Nick and Hast, Carsten and Hegazy, Kareem and Jobe, Keith and Makasyuk, Igor and Robinson, Joseph and Robinson, Matthew Scott and Vetter, Sharon and Weathersby, Stephen and Yoneda, Charles and Wang, Xijie and Centurion, Martin},
  title     = {Diffractive Imaging of Coherent Nuclear Motion in Isolated Molecules},
  series = {Physical review letters},
  volume    = {117},
  journal   = {Physical review letters},
  publisher = {American Physical Society},
  address   = {College Park},
  issn      = {0031-9007},
  doi       = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.153002},
  pages     = {6},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Observing the motion of the nuclear wave packets during a molecular reaction, in both space and time, is crucial for understanding and controlling the outcome of photoinduced chemical reactions. We have imaged the motion of a vibrational wave packet in isolated iodine molecules using ultrafast electron diffraction with relativistic electrons. The time-varying interatomic distance was measured with a precision 0.07 angstrom and temporal resolution of 230 fs full width at half maximum. The method is not only sensitive to the position but also the shape of the nuclear wave packet.},
  language  = {en}
}