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Extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) sources including high-harmonic generation (HHG), free-electron lasers (FELs), soft-X-ray lasers and laser-driven plasmas are widely used for applications ranging from femtochemistry and attosecond science to coherent diffractive imaging and EUV (or XUV) lithography. The bandwidth of the XUV light emitted by these sources reflects the XUV generation process used. Whereas light from soft-X-ray lasers1 and seeded XUV FELs2 typically has a relatively narrow bandwidth, plasma sources and HHG sources often emit broadband XUV pulses3. Since these characteristic properties of a given source impose limitations on applications, techniques enabling modification of the bandwidth are highly desirable. Here we introduce a concept for efficient spectral compression by four-wave mixing (FWM), exploiting a phase-matching scheme based on closely-spaced resonances. We demonstrate the compression of broadband radiation in the 145–130 nm wavelength range into a narrow-bandwidth XUV pulse at 100.3 nm wavelength in the presence of a broadband near-infrared (NIR) pulse in a krypton gas jet. Our concept provides new possibilities for tailoring the spectral bandwidth of XUV beams. Through a dense krypton gas jet in the presence of a broadband near-infrared pulse, spectral compression of broadband XUV radiation between 145 and 130 nm wavelengths into a narrow-bandwidth XUV pulse at 100.3 nm wavelength by four-wave mixing is demonstrated.

Studies of ultrafast relaxation of molecular chromophores are complicated by the fact that most chromophores of biological and technological importance are rather large molecules and are strongly affected by their environment, either solvent or a protein cage. Here we present an approach which allows us to follow transient electronic structure of complex photoexcited molecules. We use the method of time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in solution to follow relaxation of two prototypical aqueous chromophores, Methyl Orange and Metanil Yellow, both of which are aminoazobenzene derivatives. Using excitation by 400 nm laser pulses and ionization by wavelength-selected 46.7 nm XUV pulses from high-order harmonic generation we follow relaxation of both molecules via the dark S1 state. The photoelectron spectra yield binding energies of both ground and excited states. We combine the experimental results with surface hopping time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations employing B3LYP+D3 and ωB97X-D functionals. The results demonstrate that the method is generally suitable for description of ultrafast dynamics in these molecules and can recover absolute binding energies observed in the experiment. The B3LYP+D3 functional appears to be better suited for these systems, especially in the case of Metanil Yellow, where it indicates the importance of an intramolecular charge transfer state. Our results pave the way towards quantitative understanding of evolving electronic structure in photo-induced relaxation processes.

We explore with ultrafast infrared spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations how imidazole, an amphoteric molecule that can act both as acid and as base, provides alternate proton transfer pathways in the tautomerization reaction of 7-hydroxyquinoline.

Time-resolved XUV-IR photoion mass spectroscopy of naphthalene conducted with broadband as well as with wavelength-selected narrowband XUV pulses reveals a rising probability of fragmentation characterized by a lifetime of 92 ± 4 fs. This lifetime is independent of the XUV excitation wavelength and is the same for all low appearance energy fragments recorded in the experiment. Analysis of the experimental data in conjunction with a statistical multistate vibronic model suggests that the experimental signals track vibrational energy redistribution on the potential energy surface of the ground-state cation. In particular, populations of the out-of-plane ring twist and the out-of-plane wave bending modes could be responsible for opening new IR absorption channels, leading to enhanced fragmentation.

Vortex states seen for photons and electrons have been created in rare gas atoms and dimers

Aqueous proton transport plays a key role in acid–base neutralization and energy transport through biological membranes and hydrogen fuel cells. Extensive experimental and theoretical studies have resulted in a highly detailed elucidation of one of the underlying microscopic mechanisms for aqueous excess proton transport, known as the von Grotthuss mechanism, involving different hydrated proton configurations with associated high fluxional structural dynamics. Hydroxide transport, with approximately 2-fold-lower bulk diffusion rates compared to those of excess protons, has received much less attention. We present femtosecond UV/IR pump–probe experiments and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of different proton transport pathways of bifunctional photoacid 7-hydroxyquinoline (7HQ) in water/methanol mixtures. For 7HQ solvent-dependent photoacidity, free-energy–reactivity correlation behavior and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) trajectories point to a dominant OH–/CH3O– transport pathway for all water/methanol mixing ratios investigated. Our joint ultrafast infrared spectroscopic and ab initio molecular dynamics study provides conclusive evidence for the hydrolysis/methanolysis acid–base neutralization pathway, as formulated by Manfred Eigen half a century ago. Our findings on the distinctly different acid–base reactivities for aromatic hydroxyl and aromatic nitrogen functionalities suggest the usefulness of further exploration of these free-energy–reactivity correlations as a function of solvent polarity. Ultimately the determination of solvent-dependent acidities will contribute to a better understanding of proton-transport mechanisms at weakly polar surfaces and near polar or ionic regions in transmembrane proton pump proteins or hydrogen fuel cell materials.

International audience

The absence of magic numbers in bosonic 4He clusters predicted by all theories since 1984 has been challenged by high-resolution matter-wave diffraction experiments. The observed magic numbers were explained in terms of enhanced growth rates of specific cluster sizes for which an additional excitation level calculated by diffusion Monte Carlo is stabilized. The present theoretical study provides an alternative explanation based on a simple independent particle model of the He clusters. Collisions between cluster atoms in excited states within the cluster lead to selective evaporation via an Auger process. The calculated magic numbers as well as the shape of the number distributions are in quite reasonable agreement with the experiments.

12 pags., 7 figs., 1 tab., The time-resolved photodynamics of the methyl iodide cation (CH3I+) are investigated by means of femtosecond XUV-IR pump-probe spectroscopy. A time-delay-compensated XUV monochromator is employed to isolate a specific harmonic, the 9th harmonic of the fundamental 800 nm (13.95 eV, 88.89 nm), which is used as a pump pulse to prepare the cation in several electronic states. A time-delayed IR probe pulse is used to probe the dissociative dynamics on the first excited state potential energy surface. Photoelectrons and photofragment ions - and I+ - are detected by velocity map imaging. The experimental results are complemented with high level ab initio calculations for the potential energy curves of the electronic states of CH3I+ as well as with full dimension on-the-fly trajectory calculations on the first electronically excited state, considering the presence of the IR pulse. The and I+ pump-probe transients reflect the role of the IR pulse in controlling the photodynamics of CH3I+ in the state, mainly through the coupling to the ground state and to the excited state manifold. Oscillatory features are observed and attributed to a vibrational wave packet prepared in the state. The IR probe pulse induces a coupling between electronic states leading to a slow depletion of fragments after the cation is transferred to the ground states and an enhancement of I+ fragments by absorption of IR photons yielding dissociative photoionization., MLMS acknowledges financial support through a predoctoral contract from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and FULMATEN-CM project funded by Madrid Regional Government under programme Y2018/NMT-5028. GR thanks the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for financial support (Rubicon 68-50-1410). This project has received funding (SMP) from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant agreement No. 842539 (ATTO-CONTROL) and has been financed in part by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI/10.13039/501100011033), Grants PGC2018-096444-B-I00, PID2019-106125GB-I00 and PID2019-106732GB-I00, and the Madrid Regional Government through the program Proyectos Sin´ergicos de I + D (Grant Y2018/NMT-5028 FULMATEN-CM). FM acknowledges support from the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centres of Excellence in R & D (SEV-2016-0686) and the ‘María de Maeztu’ Programme for Units of Excellence in R & D (CEX2018-000805-M). All calculations were performed at the Mare Nostrum Supercomputer of the Red Española de Supercomputacion (BSC-RES) and the Centro de Computaci ´ on´ Científica de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (CCC-UAM). MV and OK acknowledge the support ´ from the Deutsche Forschungsgeminschaft (KO 4920/1-1). This work was performed in the Max Born Institut (Berlin) in the kHz Laboratory and received financial support from LaserLab Europe through the MBI002239 project.

Relaxation of complex resonances studied in our recent work on XUV-NIR pump-probe spectroscopy of N2 and naphthalene is affected by quantum interferences. Here were explore control of the relaxation by shaped NIR pulses.

The electric field of attosecond laser pulses can be retrieved from laser-dressed photoionisation measurements, where electron wavepackets that result from single-photon ionisation by the attosecond pulse in the presence of a dressing field are produced. In case of fluctuating dressing laser and/or attosecond pulses, e.g. due to pulse-to-pulse fluctuations of the carrier envelope phase of the infrared laser pulse, commonly applied retrieval algorithms result in the erroneous extraction of the pulse fields. We present a mixed state time-domain ptychography algorithm for the retrieval of pulse ensembles from attosecond streaking experiments.

We show how ultrafast acid-base proton transfer neutralization reactions along methanol solvent bridges can be steered from a sequential methoxide to a sequential excess proton transport pathway.

International audience; Rapid energy transfer from electronic to nuclear degrees of freedom underlies many biological processes and astrophysical observations. The efficiency of this energy transfer depends strongly on the complex interplay between electronic and nuclear motions. In this study, we report two-color pump–probe experiments that probe the relaxation dynamics of highly excited cationic states of naphthalene, a prototypical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule, which are produced using wavelength-selected, ultrashort extreme ultraviolet pulses. Surprisingly, the relaxation lifetimes increase with the cationic excitation energy. We postulate that the observed effect is the result of a population trapping that leads to delayed relaxation.

We use time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with wavelength-selected XUV femtosecond pulses to study photoinduced dynamics of organic molecules in solutions at millimolar concentrations. Upon electronic excitation we observe relaxation processes, such as excited state intramolecular proton transfer and trans-cis isomerization.

Time-resolved valence photoelectron spectroscopy is an established tool for studies of ultrafast molecular dynamics in the gas phase. Here we demonstrate time-resolved XUV photoelectron spectroscopy from dilute aqueous solutions of organic molecules, paving the way to application of this method to photodynamics studies of organic molecules in natural environments, which so far have only been accessible to all-optical transient spectroscopies. We record static and time-resolved photoelectron spectra of a sample molecule, quinoline yellow WS, analyze its electronic structure, and follow the relaxation dynamics upon excitation with 400 nm pulses. The dynamics exhibit three time scales, of which a 250 ± 70 fs time scale is attributed to solvent rearrangement. The two longer time scales of 1.3 ± 0.4 and 90 ± 20 ps can be correlated to the recently proposed ultrafast excited-state intramolecular proton transfer in a closely related molecule, quinophthalone.

Refraction is a well-known optical phenomenon that alters the direction of light waves propagating through matter. Microscopes, lenses and prisms based on refraction are indispensable tools for controlling the properties of light beams at visible, infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. The large absorption of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) radiation in matter, however, hinders the development of refractive lenses and prisms in this spectral region. Here, we demonstrate control over the refraction of XUV radiation by using a gas jet with a density gradient across the XUV beam profile. A gas phase prism is demonstrated that leads to a frequency-dependent deflection of the XUV beam. The strong deflection in the vicinity of atomic resonances is further used to develop a deformable XUV refractive lens, with low absorption and a focal length that can be tuned by varying the gas pressure. Our results provide novel opportunities in XUV science and open a route towards the transfer of refraction-based techniques including microscopy and nanofocusing, which are well established in other spectral regions, to the XUV domain., 8 pages, 4 figures

An autoionizing resonance in molecular N$_2$ is excited by an ultrashort XUV pulse and probed by a subsequent weak IR pulse, which ionizes the contributing Rydberg states. Time- and angular-resolved photoelectron spectra recorded with a velocity map imaging spectrometer reveal two electronic contributions with different angular distributions. One of them has an exponential decay rate of $20\pm5$ fs, while the other one is shorter than 10 fs. This observation is interpreted as a manifestation of interference stabilization involving the two overlapping discrete Rydberg states. A formalism of interference stabilization for molecular ionization is developed and applied to describe the autoionizing resonance. The results of calculations reveal, that the effect of the interference stabilization is facilitated by rotationally-induced couplings of electronic states with different symmetry., 8 pages, 6 figures

The Smoluchowski equations provide a rigorous and efficient means for including multiple kinetic pathways when modeling coalescence growth systems. Originally written for a constant temperature and volume system, the equations must be modified if temperature and pressure vary during the coalescence time. In this paper, the equations are generalized, and adaptations appropriate to the situation presented by supersonic nozzle beam expansions are described. Given rate constants for all the cluster-cluster reactions, solution of the Smoluchowski equations would yield the abundances of clusters of all sizes at all times. This is unlikely, but we show that if these rate constants scale with the sizes of the reacting partners, the asymptotic (large size and large time) form of the cluster size distribution can be predicted. Experimentally determined distributions for He fit the predicted asymptotic distribution very well. Deviations between predicted and observed distributions allow identification of special cluster sizes that is, magic numbers. Furthermore, fitting an observed distribution to the theoretical form yields the base agglomeration cross section, from which all cluster-cluster rate constants may be obtained by scaling. Comparing the base cross section to measures of size and reactivity gives information about the coalescence process.

Observing the crucial first few femtoseconds of photochemical reactions requires tools typically not available in the femtochemistry toolkit. Such dynamics are now within reach with the instruments provided by attosecond science. Here, we apply experimental and theoretical methods to assess the ultrafast nonadiabatic vibronic processes in a prototypical complex system—the excited benzene cation. We use few-femtosecond duration extreme ultraviolet and visible/near-infrared laser pulses to prepare and probe excited cationic states and observe two relaxation timescales of 11 ± 3 fs and 110 ± 20 fs. These are interpreted in terms of population transfer via two sequential conical intersections. The experimental results are quantitatively compared with state-of-the-art multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree calculations showing convincing agreement in the timescales. By characterising one of the fastest internal conversion processes studied to date, we enter an extreme regime of ultrafast molecular dynamics, paving the way to tracking and controlling purely electronic dynamics in complex molecules., Attosecond science is beginning to provide the tools to study the previously unattainable crucial first few femtoseconds of photochemical reactions. Here, the authors investigate extremely rapid population transfer via conical intersections in the excited benzene cation, both by experiment and computation.

Unraveling ultrafast dynamical processes in highly excited molecular species has an impact on our understanding of chemical processes such as combustion or the chemical composition of molecular clouds in the universe. In this article we use short (

Synopsis The efficiency of energy transfer in ultrafast electronic relaxation of molecules depends strongly on the complex interplay between electronic and nuclear motion. In this study we use wavelength-selected XUV pulses to induce relaxation dynamics of highly excited cationic states of naphthalene. Surprisingly, the observed relaxation lifetimes increase with the cationic excitation energy. We propose that this is a manifestation of a quantum mechanical population trapping that leads to delayed relaxation of molecules in the regions with a high density of excited states.

Using time-, spin- and angle-resolved photoemission, we investigate the ultrafast spin dynamics of hot electrons on the surface of the topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_3$ following optical excitation by fs-infrared pulses. We observe two surface-resonance states above the Fermi level coexisting with a transient population of Dirac fermions that relax in about $\sim$2 ps. One state is located below $\sim$0.4 eV just above the bulk continuum, the other one at $\sim$0.8 eV inside a projected bulk band gap. At the onset of the excitation, both states exhibit a reversed spin texture with respect to that of the transient Dirac bands, in agreement with our one-step photoemission calculations. Our data reveal that the high-energy state undergoes spin relaxation within $\sim$0.5 ps, a process that triggers the subsequent spin dynamics of both the Dirac cone and the low-energy state, which behave as two dynamically-locked electron populations. We discuss the origin of this behavior by comparing the relaxation times observed for electrons with opposite spins to the ones obtained from a microscopic Boltzmann model of ultrafast band cooling introduced into the photoemission calculations. Our results demonstrate that the nonequilibrium surface dynamics is governed by electron-electron rather than electron-phonon scattering, with a characteristic time scale unambiguously determined by the complex spin texture of excited states above the Fermi level. Our findings reveal the critical importance of detecting momentum and energy-resolved spin textures with fs resolution to fully understand the sub-ps dynamics of transient electrons on the surface of topological insulators., 10 pages, 5 figures

Autoionizing Rydberg states of molecular N_{2} are studied using time-, energy-, and angular-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. A femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulse with a photon energy of 17.5 eV excites the resonance and a subsequent IR pulse ionizes the molecule before the autoionization takes place. The angular-resolved photoelectron spectra depend on pump-probe time delay and allow for the distinguishing of two electronic states contributing to the resonance. The lifetime of one of the contributions is determined to be 14±1 fs, while the lifetime of the other appears to be significantly shorter than the time resolution of the experiment. These observations suggest that the Rydberg states in this energy region are influenced by the effect of interference stabilization and merge into a complex resonance.

Three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) are characterized by spin-polarized Dirac-cone surface states that are protected from backscattering by time-reversal symmetry. Control of the spin polarization of topological surface states (TSSs) using femtosecond light pulses opens novel perspectives for the generation and manipulation of dissipationless surface spin currents on ultrafast timescales. Using time-, spin-, and angle-resolved spectroscopy, we directly monitor for the first time the ultrafast response of the spin polarization of photoexcited TSSs to circularly-polarized femtosecond pulses of infrared light. We achieve all-optical switching of the transient out-of-plane spin polarization, which relaxes in about 1.2 ps. Our observations establish the feasibility of ultrafast optical control of spin-polarized Dirac fermions in TIs and pave the way for novel optospintronic applications at ultimate speeds., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

XXI International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena 2018 (UP 2018). -- 3 pags, 1 fig, XUV wavelength-selected pulses obtained with high harmonic generation are studies of cation dynamics with state-by-state resolution. We demonstrate this by pump-probe experiments on CH3I+ cations and identify both resonant and non-resonant dynamics.

Magnetic circular dichroism in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectral range is a powerful technique for element-specific probing of magnetization in multicomponent magnetic alloys and multilayers. We combine a high-harmonic generation source with a $\ensuremath{\lambda}/4$ phase shifter to obtain circularly polarized XUV femtosecond pulses for ultrafast magnetization studies. We report on simultaneously measured resonant magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of Co and Ni at their respective ${M}_{2,3}$ edges and of Pt at its O edge, originating from interface magnetism. We present a time-resolved MCD absorption measurement of a thin magnetic Pt/Co/Pt film, showing simultaneous demagnetization of Co and Pt on a femtosecond time scale.

Ionization of nitrogen by extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light from the Sun has recently been recognized as an important driver of chemical reactions in the atmosphere of Titan. XUV photons with energies of 24 eV and above convert inert nitrogen molecules into reactive neutral and ionic fragments that initiate chemical reactions. Understanding the XUV-induced fragmentation poses significant challenges to modern theory owing to its ultrafast time scales, complex electronic rearrangements, and strong dependence on the XUV photon energy. Here, we apply femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron and photoion spectroscopy to study dissociative ionization of nitrogen, the most abundant molecule in Titan 's atmosphere, at selected XUV photon energies using a table-top XUV time-compensating monochromator. We probe the resulting dynamics using a time-delayed infrared (IR) ionization pulse. Coupled with ab initio calculations, the results allow us to assign the major dissociation channels resulting from production of an inner-valence hole, with important implications for models of Titan's XUV-driven atmospheric chemistry. (Graph Presented)

The size distribution of para-H2 (pH2) clusters produced in free jet expansions at a source temperature of T0 = 29.5 K and pressures of P0 = 0.9-1.96 bars is reported and analyzed according to a cluster growth model based on the Smoluchowski theory with kernel scaling. Good overall agreement is found between the measured and predicted, Nk = A k(a) e(-bk), shape of the distribution. The fit yields values for A and b for values of a derived from simple collision models. The small remaining deviations between measured abundances and theory imply a (pH2)k magic number cluster of k = 13 as has been observed previously by Raman spectroscopy. The predicted linear dependence of b(-(a+1)) on source gas pressure was verified and used to determine the value of the basic effective agglomeration reaction rate constant. A comparison of the corresponding effective growth cross sections σ11 with results from a similar analysis of He cluster size distributions indicates that the latter are much larger by a factor 6-10. An analysis of the three body recombination rates, the geometric sizes and the fact that the He clusters are liquid independent of their size can explain the larger cross sections found for He.

The elementary excitation levels and chemical potentials of small 4He clusters with less than N = 50 atoms have been calculated by the diffusion Monte Carlo method. The deviations of the excitation energy levels from predictions based on a simple liquid drop model are explained by the width of the density fall-off at the cluster surface and the size dependence of the surface tension.

The formation of dimers in a free jet cryogenic expansion of 4He gas has been studied by measuring mole fractions as a function of source temperature and pressure using diffraction from a nanostructured transmission grating. The data sets are limited to low source pressures for which dimers and trimers are the only appreciable cluster populations in the beam. The final cluster mole fractions are corrected for residual gas attenuation in the source chamber by an extrapolation over several residual gas pressures. A set of rate equations used to model the cluster formation in a free jet expansion has been extended to include the departure of the ambient translational temperature from the isentropic-equilibrium values as the density decreases with increasing distance. The effect of collisions in restoring the equilibrium temperature is treated with a relaxation time approximation. There are distinct distance ranges where the dimer and trimer mole fractions and the ambient temperature near their asymptotic values. The present modeling reproduces the apparent threshold observed at low source pressures for the survival of dimers in the asymptotic beam. Except for these low source pressures, there are only small changes relative to results based on the isentropic temperature.

Topological insulators are characterized by Dirac-cone surface states with electron spins locked perpendicular to their linear momenta. Recent theoretical and experimental work implied that this specific spin texture should enable control of photoelectron spins by circularly polarized light. However, these reports questioned the so far accepted interpretation of spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. We solve this puzzle and show that vacuum ultraviolet photons (50-70 eV) with linear or circular polarization indeed probe the initial-state spin texture of Bi2Se3 while circularly polarized 6-eV low-energy photons flip the electron spins out of plane and reverse their spin polarization, with its sign determined by the light helicity. Our photoemission calculations, taking into account the interplay between the varying probing depth, dipole-selection rules, and spin-dependent scattering effects involving initial and final states, explain these findings and reveal proper conditions for light-induced spin manipulation. Our results pave the way for future applications of topological insulators in optospintronic devices.

The systems of two interacting particles are often simple enough to appear in textbooks. The situation is drastically different when three interacting particles are involved. General solutions for “the three-body problem” do not yet exist in classical or in quantum domains. A step forward was made in 1970 by Vitaly Efimov, who established that when two identical bosons are either very weakly bound or just unbound, an infinite series of three-body bound states emerges ( 1 ). The forces are sufficient to bind the trimer even when they are too weak to hold the particles in pairs, very much like Borromean rings. Efimov's original proposal concerned nuclear physics, but the helium trimer 4He3 was soon suggested as the most likely candidate for experiments ( 2 ). Now, after 38 years, Kunitski et al. ( 3 ) report on page 551 of this issue the detection of these very fragile clusters and image their structure.

The HeH2 van der Waals complex has been identified in a molecular beam produced by a cryogenic (T0=24.7 K) free jet expansion of a 1% H2 mixture in 99% 4He gas. The weakly bound HeH2 complexes in the beam are identified via their first order diffraction angles after passing through a 100 nm period transmission grating. An electron impact mass spectrometer analysis of the diffraction patterns is used to discriminate against ion fragments of the constituent gas clusters.

Single-shot time-of-flight spectra for Coulomb explosion of N-2 and I-2 molecules have been recorded at the Free Electron LASer in Hamburg (FLASH) and have been analysed using a partial covariance mapping technique. The partial covariance analysis unravels a detailed picture of all significant Coulomb explosion pathways, extending up to the N4+-N5+ channel for nitrogen and up to the I8+-I9+ channel for iodine. The observation of the latter channel is unexpected if only sequential ionization processes from the ground state ions are considered. The maximum kinetic energy release extracted from the covariance maps for each dissociation channel shows that Coulomb explosion of nitrogen molecules proceeds much faster than that of the iodine. The N-2 ionization dynamics is modelled using classical trajectory simulations in good agreement with the outcome of the experiments. The results suggest that covariance mapping of the Coulomb explosion can be used to measure the intensity and pulse duration of free-electron lasers.

The coherent interaction with ultrashort light pulses is a powerful strategy for monitoring and controlling the dynamics of wave packets in all states of matter. As light presents an oscillation period of a few femtoseconds (T = 2.6 fs in the near infrared spectral range), an external optical field can induce changes in a medium on the sub-cycle timescale, i.e. in a few hundred attoseconds. In this work, we resolve the dynamics of autoionizing states on the femtosecond timescale and observe the sub-cycle evolution of a coherent electronic wave packet in a diatomic molecule, exploiting a tunable ultrashort extreme ultraviolet pulse and a synchronized infrared field. The experimental observations are based on measuring the variations of the extreme ultraviolet radiation transmitted through the molecular gas. The different mechanisms contributing to the wave packet dynamics are investigated through theoretical simulations and a simple three level model. The method is general and can be extended to the investigation of more complex systems.

The ejection dynamics of Rydberg atoms and molecular fragments from electronically excited helium nanodroplets are studied with time-resolved extreme ultraviolet ion imaging spectroscopy. At excitation energies of 23.6 ± 0.2 eV, Rydberg atoms in n = 3 and n = 4 states are ejected on different time scales and with significantly different kinetic energy distributions. Specifically, n = 3 Rydberg atoms are ejected with kinetic energies as high as 0.85 eV, but their appearance is delayed by approximately 200 fs. In contrast, n = 4 Rydberg atoms appear within the time resolution of the experiment with considerably lower kinetic energies. Major features in the Rydberg atom kinetic energy distributions for both principal quantum numbers can be described within a simple elastic scattering model of localized perturbed atomic Rydberg atoms that are expelled from the droplet due to their repulsive interaction with the surrounding helium bath. Time-dependent kinetic energy distributions of He(2) (+) and He(3) (+) ions are presented that support the formation of molecular ions in an indirect droplet ionization process and the ejection of neutral Rydberg dimers on a similar time scale as the n = 3 Rydberg atoms.

All matter exposed to intense femtosecond x-ray pulses from the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser is strongly ionized on time scales competing with the inner-shell vacancy lifetimes. We show that for nanoscale objects the environment, i.e., nanoparticle size, is an important parameter for the time-dependent ionization dynamics. The Auger lifetimes of large Ar clusters are found to be increased compared to small clusters and isolated atoms, due to delocalization of the valence electrons in the x-ray-induced nanoplasma. As a consequence, large nanometer-sized samples absorb intense femtosecond x-ray pulses less efficiently than small ones.