CONCERT
Title: Capturing and cONtrolling coniCal intErsections in Real Time.
ICCOM Principal Investigator: Fabrizio Santoro.
Project type: International.
Duration: 01/04/2026- 31/03/2032.
Abstract: Conical intersections (CIs) are regions in the potential energy surface of molecules where different electronic energy levels intersect. They preside over essential ultrafast processes in photobiology, photochemistry, and materials science acting as “doorways” through which a photoexcited vibrational wave packet (WP) is efficiently funnelled to a lower-energy electronic state. Despite theoretical predictions, CIs have been experimentally elusive so far, due to the extreme speed of the processes leading to and occurring at the CIs calling for extreme spectral and temporal resolutions. Leveraging recent experimental advances in the generation of ultrashort soft X-ray pulses and conceptual advances in nonlinear optical spectroscopy, CONCERT aims to: i) directly visualise the very moment in which the molecular WP passes through the CI and the associated quantum mechanical electronic coherences; ii) use this knowledge to control, using tailored light pulses, the WP dynamics in the vicinity of a CI and, ultimately, the outcome and the yield of a photochemical reaction, fulfilling the long-held dream of using light as a photonic catalyst.
Coordinator: Prof. Giulio Cerullo, Polythecnic of Milan.
Partnership: Polythecnic of Milan, Univesity of Bologna, University of California Irvine (USA), CNR (IFN, Leader of the Unit; ICCOM; ELETTRA).
ICCOM participants: Fabrizio Santoro.
Financed by: EU HORIZON-ERC-SYG, codice progetto n. 101224087.
Project overall budget: 10.000.000 €.
ICCOM budget: 300.000 €.