383 research outputs found
A Century of Cosmology
In the century since Einstein's anno mirabilis of 1905, our concept of the
Universe has expanded from Kapteyn's flattened disk of stars only 10 kpc across
to an observed horizon about 30 Gpc across that is only a tiny fraction of an
immensely large inflated bubble. The expansion of our knowledge about the
Universe, both in the types of data and the sheer quantity of data, has been
just as dramatic. This talk will summarize this century of progress and our
current understanding of the cosmos.Comment: Talk presented at the "Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology -
Einstein's Legacy" meeting in Munich, Nov 2005. Proceedings will be published
in the Springer-Verlag "ESO Astrophysics Symposia" series. 10 pages Latex
with 2 figure
Quantitative Chemically-Specific Coherent Diffractive Imaging of Buried Interfaces using a Tabletop EUV Nanoscope
Characterizing buried layers and interfaces is critical for a host of
applications in nanoscience and nano-manufacturing. Here we demonstrate
non-invasive, non-destructive imaging of buried interfaces using a tabletop,
extreme ultraviolet (EUV), coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) nanoscope. Copper
nanostructures inlaid in SiO2 are coated with 100 nm of aluminum, which is
opaque to visible light and thick enough that neither optical microscopy nor
atomic force microscopy can image the buried interfaces. Short wavelength (29
nm) high harmonic light can penetrate the aluminum layer, yielding
high-contrast images of the buried structures. Moreover, differences in the
absolute reflectivity of the interfaces before and after coating reveal the
formation of interstitial diffusion and oxidation layers at the Al-Cu and
Al-SiO2 boundaries. Finally, we show that EUV CDI provides a unique capability
for quantitative, chemically-specific imaging of buried structures, and the
material evolution that occurs at these buried interfaces, compared with all
other approaches.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Signatures of High-Intensity Compton Scattering
We review known and discuss new signatures of high-intensity Compton
scattering assuming a scenario where a high-power laser is brought into
collision with an electron beam. At high intensities one expects to see a
substantial red-shift of the usual kinematic Compton edge of the photon
spectrum caused by the large, intensity dependent, effective mass of the
electrons within the laser beam. Emission rates acquire their global maximum at
this edge while neighbouring smaller peaks signal higher harmonics. In
addition, we find that the notion of the centre-of-mass frame for a given
harmonic becomes intensity dependent. Tuning the intensity then effectively
amounts to changing the frame of reference, going continuously from inverse to
ordinary Compton scattering with the centre-of-mass kinematics defining the
transition point between the two.Comment: 25 pages, 16 .eps figure
Time-resolved x-ray photoabsorption and diffraction on timescales from ns to fs
Time-resolved x-ray diffraction with picosecond time resolution is used to observe scattering from coherent acoustic phonons in laser-excited InSb crystals. The observed oscillations in the crystal reflectivity are in agreement with a model based on dynamical diffraction theory. Synchrotron radiation pulses of ∼300 fs in duration have been generated by femtosecond laser pulses modulating the electron beam in the Advanced Light Source. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87631/2/664_1.pd
Mapping ultrafast dynamics of highly excited D2 + by ultrashort XUV pump-IR probe radiation
An ultrashort XUV laser pulse ionizes the D2 molecule creating an electronic and nuclear wave packet, with the dominant contributions from the 2sσg and 2pπu ionic states. A delayed interaction with a 780 nm IR field ejects the second electron, leading to the Coulomb explosion of the molecule, whose nuclear fragments, recorded in coincidence, map the dynamics associated to those two ionic excited states. By varying the orientation of the light polarization, one can control the molecular dynamics by modifying the ratio between the ionic states. Experimental and ab initio theoretical data are jointly reporte
Attosecond VUV Coherent Control of Molecular Dynamics
High harmonic light sources make it possible to access attosecond
time-scales, thus opening up the prospect of manipulating electronic wave
packets for steering molecular dynamics. However, two decades after the birth
of attosecond physics, the concept of attosecond chemistry has not yet been
realized. This is because excitation and manipulation of molecular orbitals
requires precisely controlled attosecond waveforms in the deep ultraviolet,
which have not yet been synthesized. Here, we present a novel approach using
attosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulse-trains to coherently excite and control the
outcome of a simple chemical reaction in a deuterium molecule in a non-Born
Oppenheimer regime. By controlling the interfering pathways of electron wave
packets in the excited neutral and singly-ionized molecule, we unambiguously
show that we can switch the excited electronic state on attosecond timescales,
coherently guide the nuclear wave packets to dictate the way a neutral molecule
vibrates, and steer and manipulate the ionization and dissociation channels.
Furthermore, through advanced theory, we succeed in rigorously modeling
multi-scale electron and nuclear quantum control in a molecule for the first
time. The observed richness and complexity of the dynamics, even in this very
simplest of molecules, is both remarkable and daunting, and presents intriguing
new possibilities for bridging the gap between attosecond physics and
attochemistry
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