Laser-induced forward transfer of soft material nanolayers with millisecond pulses shows contact-based material deposition

In this work, we present a qualitative and quantitative experimental analysis, as well as a numerical model, of a novel variant of the laser-induced forward transfer, which uses millisecond laser pulses. In this process, soft material nanolayer spots are transferred from a donor slide, which is coated with the soft material layer, to an acceptor slide via laser irradiation. This method offers a highly flexible material transfer to perform high-throughput combinatorial chemistry for the generation of biomolecule arrays. For the first time, we show visual evidence that the main transfer mechanism is contact-based, due to thermal surface expansion of the donor layer. Thus, the process is different from the many known variants of laser-induced forward transfer. We will characterize the maximum axial surface expansion in relation to laser power and pulse duration. On this basis, we derive a numerical model that approximates the axial surface expansion within measurement tolerances. Finally, we analyze the topology of the transferred soft material nanolayer spots by fluorescence imaging and vertical scanning interferometry to determine width, height, and shape of the transferred material. Concluding from this experimental and numerical data, we can now predict the amount of transferred material in this process

Near and Above Ionization Electronic Excitations with Non-Hermitian Real-Time Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory

We present a real-time time-dependent density functional theory (RT-TDDFT) prescription for capturing near and post-ionization excitations based on non-Hermitian von Neumann density matrix propagation with atom-centered basis sets, tuned range-separated DFT, and a phenomenological imaginary molecular orbital-based absorbing potential to mimic coupling to the continuum. The computed extreme ultraviolet absorption spectra for acetylene (C 2H2), water (H2O), and Freon 12 (CF 2Cl2) agree well with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) data over the range of 0-50 eV. The absorbing potential removes spurious high-energy finite basis artifacts, yielding correct bound-to-bound transitions, metastable (autoionizing) resonance states, and consistent overall absorption shapes. © 2013 American Chemical Society