36 research outputs found
Attosecond streaking of photoelectron emission from disordered solids
Attosecond streaking of photoelectrons emitted by extreme ultraviolet light
has begun to reveal how electrons behave during their transport within simple
crystalline solids. Many sample types within nanoplasmonics, thin-film physics,
and semiconductor physics, however, do not have a simple single crystal
structure. The electron dynamics which underpin the optical response of
plasmonic nanostructures and wide-bandgap semiconductors happen on an
attosecond timescale. Measuring these dynamics using attosecond streaking will
enable such systems to be specially tailored for applications in areas such as
ultrafast opto-electronics. We show that streaking can be extended to this very
general type of sample by presenting streaking measurements on an amorphous
film of the wide-bandgap semiconductor tungsten trioxide, and on
polycrystalline gold, a material that forms the basis of many nanoplasmonic
devices. Our measurements reveal the near-field temporal structure at the
sample surface, and photoelectron wavepacket temporal broadening consistent
with a spread of electron transport times to the surface
Attosecond electron spectroscopy using a novel interferometric pump-probe technique
We present an interferometric pump-probe technique for the characterization
of attosecond electron wave packets (WPs) that uses a free WP as a reference to
measure a bound WP. We demonstrate our method by exciting helium atoms using an
attosecond pulse with a bandwidth centered near the ionization threshold, thus
creating both a bound and a free WP simultaneously. After a variable delay, the
bound WP is ionized by a few-cycle infrared laser precisely synchronized to the
original attosecond pulse. By measuring the delay-dependent photoelectron
spectrum we obtain an interferogram that contains both quantum beats as well as
multi-path interference. Analysis of the interferogram allows us to determine
the bound WP components with a spectral resolution much better than the inverse
of the attosecond pulse duration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Minimizing attosecond CEP jitter by carrier envelope phase tuning
Minimizing the CEP jitter of isolated attosecond pulses (IAP) will be important for future applications. This jitter is experimentally and theoretically investigated and can be minimized when the driving pulse is near its Fourier limit but with slightly negative chirp. Thus, understanding and characterization of the CEP jitter of IAPs is a first step towards exact control of the electric field of IAP pulses
LKB1 and AMPK differentially regulate pancreatic β-cell identity.
Fully differentiated pancreatic β cells are essential for normal glucose homeostasis in mammals. Dedifferentiation of these cells has been suggested to occur in type 2 diabetes, impairing insulin production. Since chronic fuel excess ("glucotoxicity") is implicated in this process, we sought here to identify the potential roles in β-cell identity of the tumor suppressor liver kinase B1 (LKB1/STK11) and the downstream fuel-sensitive kinase, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Highly β-cell-restricted deletion of each kinase in mice, using an Ins1-controlled Cre, was therefore followed by physiological, morphometric, and massive parallel sequencing analysis. Loss of LKB1 strikingly (2.0-12-fold, E<0.01) increased the expression of subsets of hepatic (Alb, Iyd, Elovl2) and neuronal (Nptx2, Dlgap2, Cartpt, Pdyn) genes, enhancing glutamate signaling. These changes were partially recapitulated by the loss of AMPK, which also up-regulated β-cell "disallowed" genes (Slc16a1, Ldha, Mgst1, Pdgfra) 1.8- to 3.4-fold (E<0.01). Correspondingly, targeted promoters were enriched for neuronal (Zfp206; P=1.3×10(-33)) and hypoxia-regulated (HIF1; P=2.5×10(-16)) transcription factors. In summary, LKB1 and AMPK, through only partly overlapping mechanisms, maintain β-cell identity by suppressing alternate pathways leading to neuronal, hepatic, and other characteristics. Selective targeting of these enzymes may provide a new approach to maintaining β-cell function in some forms of diabetes.-Kone, M., Pullen, T. J., Sun, G., Ibberson, M., Martinez-Sanchez, A., Sayers, S., Nguyen-Tu, M.-S., Kantor, C., Swisa, A., Dor, Y., Gorman, T., Ferrer, J., Thorens, B., Reimann, F., Gribble, F., McGinty, J. A., Chen, L., French, P. M., Birzele, F., Hildebrandt, T., Uphues, I., Rutter, G. A. LKB1 and AMPK differentially regulate pancreatic β-cell identity
A System for Conducting Surface Science with Attosecond Pulses
We report the development of an apparatus to allow time resolved photoelectron spectroscopy of charge motion on solids and structured surfaces with attosecond resolution in an ultra high vacuum environment. The system, connected to the Attosecond Beamline at Imperial College, allows probing of charge dynamics on surfaces and plasmonic fields on structured surfaces with a few-cycle NIR pulse and attosecond pulse trains. The system incorporates novel methods of vibration isolation to eliminate vibrations coupling to sample and optics from mechanical vibrations. An isolated attosecond pulse can also be used with the addition of a multilayer XUV optic. A two-photon photoemission measure of a hot electron population in gold is presented
Attosecond control of electron localization in one- and two-color dissociative ionization of H2 and D2
We report experiments where an attosecond pulse launches a wavepacket on the dissociative state of D2 +, and a few-cycle IR pulse localizes the electron on one ionic fragment with attosecond sensitivity to the XUV-IR delay