Short-wavelength four wave mixing experiments using single and two-color schemes at FERMI

The development of ultra-bright extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray free electron laser (FEL) sources has enabled the extension of wave-mixing approaches into the short wavelength regime. Such a class of experiments relies upon nonlinear interactions among multiple light pulses offering a unique tool for exploring the dynamics of ultrafast processes and correlations between selected excitations at relevant length and time scales adding elemental and site selectivity as well. Besides the availability of a suitable photon source, the implementation of wave mixing methodology requires efforts in developing the instrumental set-up. We have realized at the FERMI FEL two dedicated set-ups to handle multiple FEL beams with preselected parameters in a non-collinear fashion and control their interaction sequence at the target. These unique apparatuses, combined with the exceptional characteristics of the seeded FERMI FEL, have allowed us to make the first steps into this field and further advances are foreseen in the near future

Free electron laser-driven ultrafast rearrangement of the electronic structure in Ti

High-energy density extreme ultraviolet radiation delivered by the FERMI seeded free-electron laser has been used to create an exotic nonequilibrium state of matter in a titanium sample characterized by a highly excited electron subsystem at temperatures in excess of 10 eV and a cold solid-density ion lattice. The obtained transient state has been investigated through ultrafast absorption spectroscopy across the Ti M2,3-edge revealing a drastic rearrangement of the sample electronic structure around the Fermi level occurring on a time scale of about 100 fs

Nanoscale transient magnetization gratings excited and probed by femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses

We utilize coherent femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pulses derived from a free electron laser (FEL) to generate transient periodic magnetization patterns with periods as short as 44 nm. Combining spatially periodic excitation with resonant probing at the dichroic M-edge of cobalt allows us to create and probe transient gratings of electronic and magnetic excitations in a CoGd alloy. In a demagnetized sample, we observe an electronic excitation with 50 fs rise time close to the FEL pulse duration and ~0.5 ps decay time within the range for the electron-phonon relaxation in metals. When the experiment is performed on a sample magnetized to saturation in an external field, we observe a magnetization grating, which appears on a sub-picosecond time scale as the sample is demagnetized at the maxima of the EUV intensity and then decays on the time scale of tens of picoseconds via thermal diffusion. The described approach opens prospects for studying dynamics of ultrafast magnetic phenomena on nanometer length scales

The societal context of professional practice: Examining the impact of politics and economics on journalistic role performance across 37 countries

The impact of socio-political variables on journalism is an ongoing concern of comparative research on media systems and professional cultures. However, they have rarely been studied systematically across diverse cases, particularly outside Western democracies, and existing studies that compare western and non-western contexts have mainly focused on journalistic role conceptions rather than actual journalistic practice. Using journalistic role performance as a theoretical and methodological framework, this paper overcomes these shortcomings through a content analysis of 148,474 news stories from 365 print, online, TV, and radio outlets in 37 countries. We consider two fundamental system-level variables—liberal democracy and market orientation—testing a series of hypotheses concerning their influence on the interventionist, watchdog, loyal-facilitator, service, infotainment, and civic roles in the news globally. Findings confirm the widely asserted hypothesis that liberal democracy is associated with the performance of public-service oriented roles. Claims that market orientation reinforces critical and civic-oriented journalism show more mixed results and give some support to the argument that there are forms of “market authoritarianism” associated with loyalist journalism. The findings also show that the interventionist and infotainment roles are not significantly associated with the standard measures of political and economic structure, suggesting the need for more research on their varying forms across societies and the kinds of system-level factors that might explain them

Perspective: A toolbox for protein structure determination in physiological environment through oriented, 2D ordered, site specific immobilization

Revealing the structure of complex biological macromolecules, such as proteins, is an essential step for understanding the chemical mechanisms that determine the diversity of their functions. Synchrotron based X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy have made major contributions in determining thousands of protein structures even from micro-sized crystals. They suffer from some limitations that have not been overcome, such as radiation damage, the natural inability to crystallize a number of proteins, and experimental conditions for structure determination that are incompatible with the physiological environment. Today, the ultra-short and ultra-bright pulses of X-ray free-electron lasers have made attainable the dream to determine protein structures before radiation damage starts to destroy the samples. However, the signal-to-noise ratio remains a great challenge to obtain usable diffraction patterns from a single protein molecule. With the perspective to overcome these challenges, we describe here a new methodology that has the potential to overcome the signal-to-noise-ratio and protein crystallization limits. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we propose to create ordered, two dimensional protein arrays with defined orientation attached on a self-assembled-monolayer. We develop a literature-based flexible toolbox capable of assembling different kinds of proteins on a functionalized surface and consider using a graphene cover layer that will allow performing experiments with proteins in physiological conditions

Extreme ultraviolet probing of nonequilibrium dynamics in high energy density germanium

Intense femtosecond infrared laser pulses induce a nonequilibrium between thousands of Kelvin hot valence electrons and room-temperature ions in a germanium sample foil. The evolution of this exotic state of matter is monitored with time-resolved extreme ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy across the Ge $M_{2,3}$ edge ($≃30 eV$) using the FERMI free-electron laser. We analyze two distinct regimes in the ultrafast dynamics in laser-excited Ge: First, on a subpicosecond time scale, the electron energy distribution thermalizes to an extreme temperature unreachable in equilibrium solid germanium; then, during the following picoseconds, the lattice reacts strongly altering the electronic structure and resulting in melting to a metallic state alongside a breakdown of the local atomic order. Data analysis, based on a hybrid approach including both numerical and analytical calculations, provides an estimation of the electron and ion temperatures, the electron density of states, the carrier-phonon relaxation time, as well as the carrier density and lattice heat capacity under those extreme nonequilibrium conditions. Related structural anomalies, such as the occurrence of a transient low-density liquid phase and the possible drop in lattice heat capacity are discussed

Correlates of sexual functioning in Italian menopausal women

Objectives To analyze the sexuality of Italian menopausal women. Design Cross-sectional study. Population Menopausal women consecutively observed during the study period in menopause clinics. Methods Women were interviewed about their current and premenopausal sexual activity: sexual intercourse frequency and self-rated sexual desire, capacity for orgasm and sexual satisfaction were recorded. Women were defined as having poor sexual functioning if they had one or less sexual intercourses per week or answered 'absent/poor' to the questions about the sexual domains. Results Oral hormone therapy (HT) use (odds ratio (OR) 0.43 for desire, 0.54 for orgasm and 0.56 for overall sexual satisfaction, all p<0.001) and transdermal HT (OR 0.38, 0.53 and 0.53, respectively, all p<0.001) were significantly associated with lower risk of poor sexual functioning. Higher physical and mental component scores (PCS and MCS, range 0-100) of the Short Form-12 are inversely related to poor sexual functioning (OR by point 0.96, 0.95, 0.95 for PCS and 0.96, 0.96 and 0.95, for MCS, respectively, all p<0.001). Pain during and symptoms after sexual intercourse were significantly related to desire (OR 1.96 and 1.78, respectively), orgasm (OR 2.22 and 2.06, respectively) and sexual satisfaction (OR 2.02 and 1.79, respectively). The partner's health problems were associated with low sexual intercourse frequency (OR 4.18, p<0.001) and absent/poor overall satisfaction (OR 2.61, p<0.001). Conclusions This study shows that, in menopausal Italian women attending menopause clinics, sexual function is associated with the quality of sexual life in reproductive age, partner's health status, current quality of life, HT and occurrence of pain during and symptoms after sexual intercourse