Two-Dimensional Infrared Photon-Echo Spectroscopy

Current: An ultrafast, mid-infrared look at the fluctuating electric forces between the charged and polar surface elements of the DNA double-helix and the atmosphere of counterions and water dipoles (right). An access to these dynamics is achieved by the distortions that the interfacial interactions impose on the vibrational potentials of the backbone modes, as seen in the sequences of two-dimensional infrared spectra taken at sub-picosecond intervals after excitation (left). The image of the DNA double-helix is derived from the X-ray data of structure 3BSE of the Protein Data Base.