Design and application of liquid-phase magnetic-bottle time resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

The liquid phase serves as a critical environment for chemical and biological reactions. The chemical and biological reaction dynamics of molecules in liquids exhibit evolution behaviors that are significantly different from those of isolated molecules in the gas phase. The in-depth investigation of the ultrafast excited-state dynamics of liquid-phase molecules is of great importance for uncovering the microscopic mechanisms underlying complex chemical and biological processes. Photoelectron spectroscopy not only reveals the electronic structure of excited-state molecules but also exhibits high sensitivity to structural changes, making it a powerful tool for studying the relaxation dynamics. Liquid-phase time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy utilizes a liquid microjet within a high vacuum. In this pump-probe technique, an initial pump pulse excites the liquids to initiate dynamics, followed by a delayed probe pulse that ionizes the evolving system. The time-dependent energy distribution of the resulting photoelectrons, which encodes the ultrafast dynamics, is measured by a magnetic-bottle time-of-flight (MB-TOF) analyzer. This review systematically summarizes recent advancements in the time-resolved liquid-phase photoelectron spectroscopy technology for studying ultrafast dynamics in liquids, detailing the fundamental working principles of magnetic-bottle spectrometers and the preparation techniques for liquid microjet targets. Furthermore, typical applications are discussed, concluding with an analysis of current technical challenges and future research directions.