67 research outputs found
Dynamical characteristics of Rydberg electrons released by a weak electric field
The dynamics of ultra-slow electrons in the combined potential of an ionic
core and a static electric field is discussed. With state-of-the-art detection
it is possible to create such electrons through strong intense-field
photo-absorption and to detect them via high-resolution time-of-flight
spectroscopy despite their very low kinetic energy. The characteristic feature
of their momentum spectrum, which emerges at the same position for different
laser orientations, is derived and could be revealed experimentally with an
energy resolution of the order of 1meV.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Streaking temporal double slit interference by an orthogonal two-color laser field
We investigate electron momentum distributions from single ionization of Ar
by two orthogonally polarized laser pulses of different color. The two-color
scheme is used to experimentally control the interference between electron wave
packets released at different times within one laser cycle. This intracycle
interference pattern is typically hard to resolve in an experiment. With the
two-color control scheme these features become the dominant contribution to the
electron momentum distribution. Furthermore the second color can be used for
streaking of the otherwise interfering wave packets establishing a which-way
marker. Our investigation shows that the visibility of the interference fringes
depends on the degree of the which-way information determined by the
controllable phase between the two pulses.Comment: submitted to PR
Observation of the Efimov state of the helium trimer
Quantum theory dictates that upon weakening the two-body interaction in a
three-body system, an infinite number of three-body bound states of a huge
spatial extent emerge just before these three-body states become unbound. Three
helium atoms have been predicted to form a molecular system that manifests this
peculiarity under natural conditions without artificial tuning of the
attraction between particles by an external field. Here we report experimental
observation of this long predicted but experimentally elusive Efimov state of
He by means of Coulomb explosion imaging. We show spatial images of
an Efimov state, confirming the predicted size and a typical structure where
two atoms are close to each other while the third is far away
Investigating absolute stereochemical configuration with coulomb explosion imaging
It is a particularly challenging task in stereochemistry to determine the absolute configuration of chiral molecules, i.e. to assign to a given sample the microscopic enantiomeric structure. In recent years, Coulomb Explosion Imaging (CEI) has been shown to yield directly the absolute configuration of small molecules in the gas phase. This contribution describes the experimental basics of this approach, highlights the most significant results and discusses limitations. A short discussion on extending Coulomb Explosion Imaging beyond analytic aspects to fundamental questions of molecular chirality concludes this review
Chiral photoelectron angular distributions from ionization of achiral atomic and molecular species
We show that the combination of two achiral components - atomic or molecular
target plus a circularly polarized photon - can yield chirally structured
photoelectron angular distributions. For photoionization of CO, the angular
distribution of carbon K-shell photoelectrons is chiral when the molecular axis
is neither perpendicular nor (anti-)parallel to the light propagation axis. In
photo-double-ionization of He, the distribution of one electron is chiral, if
the other electron is oriented like the molecular axis in the former case and
if the electrons are distinguishable by their energy. In both scenarios, the
circularly polarized photon defines a plane with a sense of rotation and an
additional axis is defined by the CO molecule or one electron. This is
sufficient to establish an unambiguous coordinate frame of well-defined
handedness. To produce a chirally structured electron angular distribution,
such a coordinate frame is necessary, but not sufficient. We show that
additional electron-electron interaction or scattering processes are needed to
create the chiral angular distribution
Kinematically complete experimental study of Compton scattering at helium atoms near the ionization threshold
Compton scattering is one of the fundamental interaction processes of light
with matter. Already upon its discovery [1] it was described as a billiard-type
collision of a photon kicking a quasi-free electron. With decreasing photon
energy, the maximum possible momentum transfer becomes so small that the
corresponding energy falls below the binding energy of the electron. Then
ionization by Compton scattering becomes an intriguing quantum phenomenon. Here
we report a kinematically complete experiment on Compton scattering at helium
atoms below that threshold. We determine the momentum correlations of the
electron, the recoiling ion, and the scattered photon in a coincidence
experiment finding that electrons are not only emitted in the direction of the
momentum transfer, but that there is a second peak of ejection to the backward
direction. This finding links Compton scattering to processes as ionization by
ultrashort optical pulses [2], electron impact ionization [3,4], ion impact
ionization [5,6], and neutron scattering [7] where similar momentum patterns
occur.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Angular dependence of the Wigner time delay upon tunnel ionization of
More than 100 years after its discovery and its explanation in the energy
domain, the duration of the photoelectric effect is still heavily studied. The
emission time of a photoelectron can be quantified by the Wigner time delay.
Experiments addressing this time delay for single-photon ionization became
feasible during the last 10 years. A missing piece, which has not been studied,
so far, is the Wigner time delay for strong-field ionization of molecules. Here
we show experimental data on the Wigner time delay for tunnel ionization of
molecules and demonstrate its dependence on the emission direction of
the electron with respect to the molecular axis. We find, that the observed
changes in the Wigner time delay can be quantitatively explained by
elongated/shortened travel paths of the electrons that are due to spatial
shifts of the electron's birth position after tunneling. This introduces an
intuitive perspective towards the Wigner time delay in strong-field ionization.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
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