Controlling dark catalysis with quasi half-cycle terahertz pulses

This study reports the changes in the platinum electronic structure induced by a strong electric field originated from quasi half-cycle THz pulses, which forces the C–O molecule to dissociate. The changes could be rationalized via a simple analysis of the local density-of-states and easily characterised via high resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy (HR-XAS). Thus, conferring half-cycle THz pulses the capability of triggering dark catalytic processes required to follow real time catalytic bond rupture or formation, i.e. , time-resolved measurements using THz as the pump and HR-XAS as the probe.