TY  - JOUR
AU  - Trinter, Florian
AU  - Hofierka, Jaroslav
AU  - Rist, Jonas
AU  - Kircher, Max
AU  - Weller, Miriam
AU  - Melzer, Niklas
AU  - Tsitsonis, Dimitrios
AU  - Geyer, Angelina
AU  - Kruse, Jan
AU  - Kastirke, Gregor
AU  - Williams, Joshua
AU  - Miteva, Tsveta
AU  - Doerner, Reinhard
AU  - Schoeffler, Markus
AU  - Kunitski, Maksim
AU  - SISOURAT, Nicolas
AU  - Cederbaum, Lorenz
AU  - Jahnke, Till
TI  - Tracking the Complex Dynamics of Electron-Transfer-Mediated Decay in Real Space and Time
JO  - Journal of the American Chemical Society
VL  - 148
IS  - 4
SN  - 0002-7863
CY  - Washington, DC
PB  - ACS Publications
M1  - PUBDB-2026-00714
SP  - 4126 - 4135
PY  - 2026
N1  - Open Access
AB  - When an electronically excited atom or molecule is embedded in a chemical environment as, e.g., in a liquid or a loosely bound cluster, it can de-excite through mechanisms where neighboring atoms or molecules are actively participating in the decay: either by donating or accepting energy or electrons. For such nonlocal decay channels, nuclear dynamics play a crucial role as they have a direct impact on the decay efficiency itself. Here, we present a detailed study of the electron-transfer-mediated decay in a loosely bound triatomic prototype system, combining experimental results from a 5-fold coincidence measurement and theoretical modeling of the decay process. Depending on the decay time, we find that certain classes of molecular geometries are favored for this type of decay. Our findings provide an intuitive picture of how electron-transfer-mediated decay proceeds. In particular, our results confirm a roaming-like behavior of the atoms of the trimer prior to its decay. Our combined theoretical and experimental approach enables a comprehensive tracing of the real-space properties of the decaying system in the time domain.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
DO  - DOI:10.1021/jacs.5c15510
UR  - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/646074
ER  -