220 research outputs found
Attosecond time-resolved photoelectron holography
Ultrafast strong-field physics provides insight into quantum phenomena that evolve on an attosecond time scale, the most fundamental of which is quantum tunneling. The tunneling process initiates a range of strong field phenomena such as high harmonic generation (HHG), laser-induced electron diffraction, double ionization and photoelectron holographyâall evolving during a fraction of the optical cycle. Here we apply attosecond photoelectron holography as a method to resolve the temporal properties of the tunneling process. Adding a weak second harmonic (SH) field to a strong fundamental laser field enables us to reconstruct the ionization times of photoelectrons that play a role in the formation of a photoelectron hologram with attosecond precision. We decouple the contributions of the two arms of the hologram and resolve the subtle differences in their ionization times, separated by only a few tens of attoseconds
Attosecond control of electron dynamics in carbon monoxide
Laser pulses with stable electric field waveforms establish the opportunity
to achieve coherent control on attosecond timescales. We present experimental
and theoretical results on the steering of electronic motion in a
multi-electron system. A very high degree of light-waveform control over the
directional emission of C+ and O+ fragments from the dissociative ionization of
CO was observed. Ab initio based model calculations reveal contributions to the
control related to the ionization and laser-induced population transfer between
excited electronic states of CO+ during dissociation
Ultrafast modulation of electronic structure by coherent phonon excitations
Femtosecond x-ray absorption spectroscopy with a laser-driven high-harmonic
source is used to map ultrafast changes of x-ray absorption by femtometer-
scale coherent phonon displacements. In LiBH4, displacements along an Ag
phonon mode at 10 THz are induced by impulsive Raman excitation and give rise
to oscillatory changes of x-ray absorption at the Li K edge. Electron density
maps from femtosecond x-ray diffraction data show that the electric field of
the pump pulse induces a charge transfer from the BH4â to neighboring Li+
ions, resulting in a differential Coulomb force that drives lattice vibrations
in this virtual transition state
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Signatures of Light-Induced Potential Energy Surfaces in H2+
Using theory and Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy we find signatures of light-induced molecular potential energy surfaces in the 3-dimensional proton momentum distributions of dissociating H+2. © 2020 Journal of Physics: Conference Series. All rights reserved
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Observation of correlated electronic decay in expanding clusters triggered by near-infrared fields
When an excited atom is embedded into an environment, novel relaxation pathways can emerge that are absent for isolated atoms. A well-known example is interatomic Coulombic decay, where an excited atom relaxes by transferring its excess energy to another atom in the environment, leading to its ionization. Such processes have been observed in clusters ionized by extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray lasers. Here, we report on a correlated electronic decay process that occurs following nanoplasma formation and Rydberg atom generation in the ionization of clusters by intense, non-resonant infrared laser fields. Relaxation of the Rydberg states and transfer of the available electronic energy to adjacent electrons in Rydberg states or quasifree electrons in the expanding nanoplasma leaves a distinct signature in the electron kinetic energy spectrum. These so far unobserved electron-correlation-driven energy transfer processes may play a significant role in the response of any nano-scale system to intense laser light
Wave Function Microscopy of Quasibound Atomic States
In the 1980s Demkov, Kondratovich, and Ostrovsky and Kondratovich and
Ostrovsky proposed an experiment based on the projection of slow electrons
emitted by a photoionized atom onto a position-sensitive detector. In the case
of resonant excitation, they predicted that the spatial electron distribution
on the detector should represent nothing else but a magnified image of the
projection of a quasibound electronic state. By exciting lithium atoms in the
presence of a static electric field, we present in this Letter the first
experimental photoionization wave function microscopy images where signatures
of quasibound states are evident. Characteristic resonant features, such as
(i) the abrupt change of the number of wave function nodes across a resonance
and (ii) the broadening of the outer ring of the image (associated with
tunneling ionization), are observed and interpreted via wave packet
propagation simulations and recently proposed resonance tunneling mechanisms.
The electron spatial distribution measured by our microscope is a direct
macroscopic image of the projection of the microscopic squared modulus of the
electron wave that is quasibound to the atom and constitutes the first
experimental realization of the experiment proposed 30 years ago
Wave-function imaging of quasibound and continuum Stark states
Photoionization of an atom in the presence of a uniform static electric field
provides the unique opportunity to expand and visualize the atomic wave
function at a macroscopic scale. In a number of seminal publications dating
back to the 1980s, Fabrikant, Demkov, Kondratovich, and Ostrovsky showed that
this goal could be achieved by projecting slow (meV) photoionized electrons
onto a position-sensitive detector and underlined the distinction between
continuum and resonant contributions. The uncovering of resonant signatures
was achieved fairly recently in experiments on the nonhydrogenic lithium atoms
[Cohen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 183001 (2013)]. The purpose of the
present article is the general description of these findings, with emphasis on
the various manifestations of resonant character. From this point of view,
lithium has been chosen as an illustrative example between the two limiting
cases of hydrogen, where resonance effects are more easily identified, and
heavy atoms like xenon, where resonant effects were not observed
Attosecond investigation of extreme-ultraviolet multi-photon multi-electron ionization
Multi-electron dynamics in atoms and molecules very often occur on sub- to few-femtosecond time scales. The available intensities of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulses have previously allowed the time-resolved investigation of two-photon, two-electron interactions. Here we study double and triple ionization of argon atoms involving the absorption of up to five XUV photons using a pair of intense attosecond pulse trains (APTs). By varying the time delay between the two APTs with attosecond precision and the spatial overlap with nanometer precision, we obtain information on complex nonlinear multi-photon ionization pathways. Our experimental and numerical results show that Ar2+ is predominantly formed by a sequential two-photon process, whereas the delay dependence of the Ar3+ ion yield exhibits clear signatures of the involvement of a simultaneous two-photon absorption process. Our experiment suggests that it is possible to investigate multi-electron dynamics using attosecond pulses for both pumping and probing the dynamics
Extended Gaussian wave packet dynamics
We examine an extension to the theory of Gaussian wave packet dynamics in a
one-dimensional potential by means of a sequence of time dependent displacement
and squeezing transformations. Exact expressions for the quantum dynamics are
found, and relationships are explored between the squeezed system, Gaussian
wave packet dynamics, the time dependent harmonic oscillator, and wave packet
dynamics in a Gauss-Hermite basis. Expressions are given for the matrix
elements of the potential in some simple cases. Several examples are given,
including the propagation of a non-Gaussian initial state in a Morse potential
Attosecond investigation of extreme-ultraviolet multi-photon multi-electron ionization
Multi-electron dynamics in atoms and molecules very often occur on sub- to few-femtosecond time scales. The available intensities of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulses have previously allowed the time-resolved investigation of two-photon, two-electron interactions. Here we study double and triple ionization of argon atoms involving the absorption of up to five XUV photons using a pair of intense attosecond pulse trains (APTs). By varying the time delay between the two APTs with attosecond precision and the spatial overlap with nanometer precision, we obtain information on complex nonlinear multi-photon ionization pathways. Our experimental and numerical results show that Ar2+ is predominantly formed by a sequential two-photon process, whereas the delay dependence of the Ar3+ ion yield exhibits clear signatures of the involvement of a simultaneous two-photon absorption process. Our experiment suggests that it is possible to investigate multi-electron dynamics using attosecond pulses for both pumping and probing the dynamics
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