This research is a testbedforthe development of femtosecond spectroscopic methods at RLBL. We are developing ways of measuring electron transfer dynamics in specially designed capacitors made from membrane bound reaction center protein. This has demanded the design of critical coupling protocols between femtosecond pulses and the creation of fields across the structure. The basic idea is to control the electron transfer by using applied fields to alter the free energy changes. From the spectroscopic standpoint the great challenge is to improve the signal-to noise in fs experiments where the sample cannot be moved or flowed. Furthermore, the coupling of such experiments to pulsed electric fields and concerning demonstrations of the presence of transient fields is nontrivial. The current work shows great promise and already new features of the electron transfer process have been observed. [see Highlights]
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