Frequency- and time-domain femtosecond vibrational sum frequency generation from CO adsorbed on Pt(111)

We have studied the effects of intermolecular and intramolecular coupling on the C-O stretching vibration of CO adsorbed on Platinum (111) by means of femtosecond broadband vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG). Resonant intermolecular coupling is investigated through the coverage dependence of the VSFG signal. The experimental observations can be accurately modeled as lateral coupling of the molecular transition dipole moments; this coupling is invoked in the nonlinear optical response model as a local field correction. The linear polarizability, which appears in this model, is modified by both the dipole-dipole coupling and the population of bridged adsorption sites. By extending the formalism to include these effects, we deduce a vibrational polarizability of 0.32 Ã…³ from the data. Intramolecular coupling to the frustrated translational mode is observed as temperature dependence of the C-O stretch. The present data can be described either by pertubative or nonpertubative lineshape models from the literature. Measurements of the temperature dependence of the vibrational free induction decay indicate a population relaxation time T₁ of (0.8±0.1) ps, in agreement with the observed low-temperature linewidth. Moreover, the ability of this time-domain method to discriminate spectral inhomogeneity yields clear evidence of the order-disorder transition near 275 K. Above this temperature an inhomogeneous linewidth component of (12±3) cm^-1 is observed. This value allows us to estimate the structural heterogeneity of the disordered phase, which result agrees with published Monte Carlo simulations.