Abstract
Bacteriorhodopsin (BR) has become recognized as an important system for modeling proton and ion transport mechanisms across protein membranes. These membrane processes are initiated optically by visible excitation of the retinal chromophore which undergoes a cyclic series of structural and conformational changes including isomerization and depro-tonation. Vibrational resonance Raman spectroscopy derived from spontaneous scattering has become a major experimental technique in measuring molecular structures and conformations, including those of retinal contained in BR. Laser techniques designed to record time-resolved resonance Raman (TR3) spectra have made it feasible to obtain the vibrational Raman spectra of transient forms of retinal generated during the photocycle of BR and to elucidate the dynamical mechanisms which underlie transport across the BR membrane. The laser and optical methods utilized in a picosecond TR3 spectrometer and its application to retinal intermediates formed on the picosecond time scale are described in this paper.
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