Ultrafast probing of isotope-induced explicit symmetry breaking in ethylene.

ABSTRACT: Symmetry governs nature's laws, yet many of the natural phenomena occur due to the breakdown of symmetry. Here, we show how isotope-induced inversion symmetry breaking influences ultrafast photoisomerization processes in ethylene. Using extreme ultraviolet pump - near infrared probe time-of-flight mass spectrometry, we find that replacing one of the carbon atoms in ethylene with a ¹³C isotope leads to twice-faster structural relaxation via ethylene-ethylidene isomerization in the photo-excited molecular cation. Advanced trajectory surface hopping calculations incorporating the nuclear symmetry of the molecular systems, reveal that it arises from the mixing of different normal modes in the isotope-substituted species, interactions otherwise forbidden by symmetry. Although the mix

SUBMITTER: Nardi AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12314038 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature