Search

By exciting a series of $1\mathrm{s}^{2}\, ^{1}\mathrm{S}_{0} \to 1\mathrm{s}n\mathrm{p}\, ^{1}\mathrm{P}_{1}$ transitions in helium-like nitrogen ions with linearly polarized monochromatic soft X-rays at the Elettra facility, we found a change in the angular distribution of the fluorescence sensitive to the principal quantum number $n$. In particular it is observed that the ratio of emission in directions parallel and perpendicular to the polarization of incident radiation increases with higher $n$. We find this $n$-dependence to be a manifestation of the Hanle effect, which served as a practical tool for lifetime determinations of optical transitions since its discovery in 1924. In contrast to traditional Hanle effect experiments, in which one varies the magnetic field and considers a particular excited state, we demonstrate a 'soft X-ray Hanle effect' which arises in a static magnetic field but for a series of excited states. By comparing experimental data with theoretical predictions, we were able to determine lifetimes ranging from hundreds of femtoseconds to tens of picoseconds of the $1\mathrm{s}n\mathrm{p}\, ^{1}\mathrm{P}_{1}$ levels, which find excellent agreement with atomic-structure calculations. We argue that dedicated soft X-ray measurements could yield lifetime data that is beyond current experimental reach and cannot yet be predicted with sufficient accuracy., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

The transition energies of the two $1s$-core-excited soft X-ray lines (dubbed q and r) from $1s^2 2s ^1S_{1/2}$ to the respective upper levels $1s(^{2}S)2s2p(^{3}P) ^{2}P_{3/2}$ and $^{2}P_{1/2}$ of Li-like oxygen, fluorine and neon were measured and calibrated using several nearby transitions of He-like ions. The major remaining source of energy uncertainties in monochromators, the periodic fluctuations produced by imperfect angular encoder calibration, is addressed by a simultaneously running photoelectron spectroscopy measurement. This leads to an improved energy determination of 5 parts per million, showing fair agreement with previous theories as well as with our own, involving a complete treatment of the autoionizing states studied here. Our experimental results translate to an uncertainty of only 1.6\,km/s for the oxygen line qr-blend used to determine the outflow velocities of active galactic nuclei, ten times smaller than previously possible., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

Nonlinear wave mixing in the X-ray range can provide valuable insights into the structural and electron dynamics of atomic and molecular systems on ultrafast time scales, with state- and site-selectivity and atomic resolution. This promising experimental toolbox was so far limited by requiring at least one near-visible laser, thus preventing core-shell two-dimensional X-ray spectroscopy. In this work, we demonstrate the generation of background-free all-X-ray four-wave mixing (XFWM) signals from a dilute gaseous sample (Ne). The measured and simulated two-dimensional spectral maps ($\omega_{\text{in}},\omega_{\text{out}}$) show multiple contributions involving the coherent response from core electrons. Notably, two-color resonant XFWM signals, essential for generalized multi-color schemes that allow to locally probe the electronic excitation of matter, are observed in neutral Ne. Moreover, stimulated Ne$^+$ emission in each of the propagating X-ray pulses leads to an increase of the temporal coherence in a narrow-bandwidth, which results in the coherent mixing of three X-ray lasers. Preliminary X-ray excitation experiments making use of multi-color time-delayed X-ray pulses demonstrate temporal resolution capability and show a time dependency consistent with a signal dominated by resonant XFWM processes. This first all-X-ray four-wave-mixing approach represents a major breakthrough towards multidimensional X-ray correlation spectroscopy and the general application of nonlinear all-X-ray wave-mixing.

This study investigates thermal transport across nanocrystalline diamond/AlGaN interfaces, crucial for enhancing thermal management in AlGaN/AlGaN-based devices. Chemical vapor deposition growth of diamond directly on AlGaN resulted in a disordered interface with a high thermal boundary resistance (TBR) of 20.6 m^2-K/GW. We employed sputtered carbide interlayers (e.g., $B_4C$, $SiC$, $B_4C/SiC$) to reduce thermal boundary resistance in diamond/AlGaN interfaces. The carbide interlayers resulted in record-low thermal boundary resistance values of 3.4 and 3.7 m^2-K/GW for Al$_{0.65}$Ga$_{0.35}$N samples with $B_4C$ and $SiC$ interlayers, respectively. STEM imaging of the interface reveals interlayer thicknesses between 1.7-2.5 nm, with an amorphous structure. Additionally, Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) characterization of sections of the STEM images displayed sharp crystalline fringes in the AlGaN layer, confirming it was properly protected from damage from hydrogen plasma during the diamond growth. In order to accurately measure the thermal boundary resistance we develop a hybrid technique, combining time-domain thermoreflectance and steady-state thermoreflectance fitting, offering superior sensitivity to buried thermal resistances. Our findings underscore the efficacy of interlayer engineering in enhancing thermal transport and demonstrate the importance of innovative measurement techniques in accurately characterizing complex thermal interfaces. This study provides a foundation for future research in improving thermal properties of semiconductor devices through interface engineering and advanced measurement methodologies.

Attosecond X-ray pulses are the key to studying electron dynamics at their natural time scale involving specific electronic states. They are promising to build the conceptual bridge between physical and chemical photo-reaction processes. Free-electron lasers have demonstrated their capability of generating intense attosecond X-ray pulses. However, harnessing them for time-resolving experiments and investigations of nonlinear X-ray absorption mechanisms remains a cutting-edge challenge. We have characterised X-ray pulses with durations of down to 700$\,$attoseconds and peak powers up to 200$\,$GW at $\sim$ 1$\,$keV photon energy via angular streaking at the SQS instrument of the European XFEL. As direct application, we present results of nonlinear X-ray-matter interaction via state-specific spectroscopy on a transient system. Using the derived spectral and temporal information of each pulse, we deliberately steer the probability for formation of double-core vacancies in neon gas atoms through excitation or ionisation of the second inner-shell electron after K-shell ionisation. Our results advance the field of attosecond science with highly intense and fully characterised X-ray pulses to the site-specific investigation of electronic motion in transient media.

The nonlinear interaction of x-rays with matter is at the heart of understanding and controlling ultrafast molecular dynamics from an atom-specific viewpoint, providing new scientific and analytical opportunities to explore the structure and dynamics of small quantum systems. At increasingly high x-ray intensity, the sensitivity of ultrashort x-ray pulses to specific electronic states and emerging short-lived transient intermediates is of particular relevance for our understanding of fundamental multi-photon absorption processes. In this work, intense x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) pulses at the European XFEL (EuXFEL) are combined with a gas cell and grating spectrometer for a high-intensity transmission spectroscopy study of multiphoton-induced ultrafast molecular fragmentation dynamics in CF$_4$. This approach unlocks the direct intra-pulse observation of transient fragments, including neutral atoms, by their characteristic absorption lines in the transmitted broad-band x-ray spectrum. The dynamics with and without initially producing fluorine K-shell holes are studied by tuning the central photon energy. The absorption spectra are measured at different FEL intensities to observe nonlinear effects. Transient isolated fluorine atoms and ions are spectroscopically recorded within the ultrashort pulse duration of few tens of femtoseconds. An isosbestic point that signifies the correlated transition between intact neutral CF$_4$ molecules and charged atomic fragments is observed near the fluorine K-edge. The dissociation dynamics and the multiphoton absorption-induced dynamics encoded in the spectra are theoretically interpreted. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of high-intensity x-ray transmission spectroscopy to study ultrafast molecular dynamics with sensitivity to specific intermediate species and their electronic structure., Comment: 30 pages, with 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. X

We demonstrate a left-right asymmetry control of the photo\-electron angular distribution in multi\-photon ionization of Li atoms by a bichromatic laser field. By delaying the fundamental (780 nm) and its second harmonic relative to each other in steps of 130 atto\-seconds, we can vary the relative phase between the two laser fields with sub-wavelength accuracy and thereby steer the ejected electrons. Good agreement is found between the measurements and calculations at the appropriate intensities of the two harmonics., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

We used the monochromatic soft-x-ray beamline P04 at the synchrotron-radiation facility PETRA III to resonantly excite the strongest $2p-3d$ transitions in neon-like Ni XIX ions, $[2p^6]_{J=0} \rightarrow [(2p^5)_{1/2}\,3d_{3/2}]_{J=1}$ and $[2p^6]_{J=0} \rightarrow [(2p^5)_{3/2}\,3d_{5/2}]_{J=1}$, respectively dubbed 3C and 3D, achieving a resolving power of 15\,000 and signal-to-background ratio of 30. We obtain their natural linewidths, with an accuracy of better than 10\%, as well as the oscillator-strength ratio $f(3C)/f(3D)$ = 2.51(11) from analysis of the resonant fluorescence spectra. These results agree with those of previous experiments, earlier predictions, and our own advanced calculations., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, published

We compute accurate potential energy curves of O$_2$ up to O$_2^{2+}$ for states that are energetically accessible in the photon energy range 20 to 42 eV. We find the dissociation limits of these states and the atomic fragments to which they dissociate. We use the Velocity Verlet algorithm to account for the nuclear dynamics of O$_2$ using these computed potential energy curves. Through the use of Monte Carlo simulations which monitor the nuclear motion and electronic structure of the molecule, we obtain kinetic energy release distributions of the O$^+$ + O$^+$ atomic fragments of O$_2$ exposed to an XUV pulse in the photon energy range. We compare these theoretical kinetic energy release distributions with results obtained from experiment., Comment: 11 pages, 9 Figures

The electronic structure of atomic quantum systems and their dynamical interaction with light is reflected in transition dipole matrix elements coupling the system's energy eigenstates. In this work, we measure phase shifts of the time-dependent ultrafast absorption to determine the relative signs of. the transition-dipole matrix elements. The measurement relies on precise absolute calibration of the relative timing between the used light pulses, which is achieved by combining attosecond transient absorption and attosecond streaking spectroscopy to simultaneously measure the resonant photoabsorption spectra of laser-coupled doubly excited states in helium, together with the attosecond streaked photoelectron spectra. The streaking measurement reveals the absolute timing and the full temporal profile of the interacting electric fields which is then used to quantify the state-specific dynamics of the measured photoabsorption spectra. By comparing the 1-fs time-scale modulation across the absorption lines corresponding to the 2s2p (1P) and sp2,3+ (1P) doubly excited states between simulation and measurement, we quantify the signs of the transition dipole matrix elements for the laser-coupled autoionizing states 2s2p-2p2 and 2p2-sp2,3+ to be opposite of each other.

The efficiency of phonon-mediated heat transport is limited by the intrinsic atomistic properties of materials, seemingly providing an upper limit to heat transfer in materials and across their interfaces. The typical speeds of conductive transport, which are inherently limited by the chemical bonds and atomic masses, dictate how quickly heat will move in solids. Given that phonon-polaritons, or coupled phonon-photon modes, can propagate at speeds approaching 1 percent of the speed of light - orders of magnitude faster than transport within a pure diffusive phonon conductor - we demonstrate that volume-confined, hyperbolic phonon-polariton(HPhP) modes supported by many biaxial polar crystals can couple energy across solid-solid interfaces at an order of magnitude higher rates than phonon-phonon conduction alone. Using pump-probe thermoreflectance with a mid-infrared, tunable, probe pulse with sub-picosecond resolution, we demonstrate remote and spectrally selective excitation of the HPhP modes in hexagonal boron nitride in response to radiative heating from a thermally emitting gold source. Our work demonstrates a new avenue for interfacial heat transfer based on broadband radiative coupling from a hot spot in a gold film to hBN HPhPs, independent of the broad spectral mismatch between the pump(visible) and probe(mid-IR) pulses employed. This methodology can be used to bypass the intrinsically limiting phonon-phonon conductive pathway, thus providing an alternative means of heat transfer across interfaces. Further, our time-resolved measurements of the temperature changes of the HPhP modes in hBN show that through polaritonic coupling, a material can transfer heat across and away from an interface at rates orders of magnitude faster than diffusive phonon speeds intrinsic to the material, thus demonstrating a pronounced thermal transport enhancement in hBN via phonon-polariton coupling.

We improve by a factor of 4-20 the energy accuracy of the strongest soft X-ray transitions of Fe XVII ions by resonantly exciting them in an electron beam ion trap with a monochromatic beam at the P04 beamline of the PETRA III synchrotron facility. By simultaneously tracking instantaneous photon-energy fluctuations with a high-resolution photoelectron spectrometer, we minimize systematic uncertainties down to 10-15 meV, or velocity equivalent $\pm\sim$5 km s$^{-1}$ in their rest energies, substantially improving our knowledge of this key astrophysical ion. Our large-scale configuration-interaction computations include more than four million relativistic configurations and agree with the experiment at a level without precedent for a 10-electron system. Thereby, theoretical uncertainties for interelectronic correlations become far smaller than those of quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections. The present QED benchmark strengthens our trust in future calculations of many other complex atomic ions of interest to astrophysics, plasma physics, and for the development of optical clocks with highly charged ions., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, published version

Optical frequency metrology in atoms and ions can probe hypothetical fifth-forces between electrons and neutrons by sensing minute perturbations of the electronic wave function induced by them. A generalized King plot has been proposed to distinguish them from possible Standard Model effects arising from, e.g., finite nuclear size and electronic correlations. Additional isotopes and transitions are required for this approach. Xenon is an excellent candidate, with seven stable isotopes with zero nuclear spin, however it has no known visible ground-state transitions for high resolution spectroscopy. To address this, we have found and measured twelve magnetic-dipole lines in its highly charged ions and theoretically studied their sensitivity to fifth-forces as well as the suppression of spurious higher-order Standard Model effects. Moreover, we identified at 764.8753(16) nm a E2-type ground-state transition with 500 s excited state lifetime as a potential clock candidate further enhancing our proposed scheme.

The precise temporal characterization of laser pulses is crucial for ultrashort applications in biology, chemistry, and physics. Especially in femto- and attosecond science, diverse laser pulse sources in different spectral regimes from the visible to the short-wavelength infrared as well as pulse durations ranging from picoseconds to few femtoseconds are employed. In this article, we present a versatile temporal-characterization apparatus that can access these different temporal and spectral regions in a dispersion-free manner and without phase-matching constraints. The design combines transient-grating and surface third-harmonic-generation frequency-resolved optical gating in one device with optimized alignment capabilities based on a noncollinear geometry.

We implement sympathetic cooling of highly charged ions (HCI) by fully enclosing a linear Paul trap within a superconducting radio-frequency resonator. A quantization magnetic field applied while cooling down into the superconducting state remains present in the trap for centuries and external electromagnetic fluctuations are greatly suppressed. A magnetic field decay rate at the 10$^{-10}$ s$^{-1}$ level is found using trapped Doppler-cooled Be$^+$ ions as hyperfine-structure (hfs) qubits. Ramsey interferometry and spin-echo measurements on magnetically-sensitive hfs transitions yield coherence times of >400 ms, showing excellent passive shielding at frequencies down to DC. For sympathetic cooling of HCI, we extract them from an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) and co-crystallize one together with Doppler-cooled Be$^+$ ions. By subsequently ejecting all but one Be$^+$ ions, we prepare single HCI for quantum logic spectroscopy towards frequency metrology and qubit operations with a great variety of HCI species., Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures. The following article has been submitted to Review of Scientific Instruments. After it is published, it will be found at https://rsi.aip.org/

The nature of electronic motion and structural information of atoms and molecules is encoded into strong-field induced radiations ranging from terahertz (THz) to extreme ultraviolet wavelength. The dependence of THz yields in bi-chromatic laser fields on ellipticity and interpulse phase delay were experimentally measured, and the trajectory calculations establish the link between the THz emission and the motion of the photoelectron wave packet. The interaction between the photoelectron and parent core transforms from soft collision to recollision as the laser field tuned from elliptical to linear polarization, which can be reflected in THz emission. The soft collision is found to be more effective in reconstructing electron dynamics through THz polarization, which enables to construct the effective core potential of the generating medium with the Coulomb-reshaped THz radiation in an elliptically polarized laser field. Our work allows designing innovative all-optical THz measurements of electronic and structural dynamics.

We train a model atom to recognize hand-written digits between 0 and 9, employing intense light--matter interaction as a computational resource. For training, individual images of hand-written digits in the range 0-9 are converted into shaped laser pulses (data input pulses). Simultaneously with an input pulse, another shaped pulse (program pulse), polarized in the orthogonal direction, is applied to the atom and the system evolves quantum mechanically according to the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. The purpose of the optimal program pulse is to direct the system into specific atomic final states that correspond to the input digits. A success rate of about 40\% is demonstrated here for a basic optimization scheme, so far limited by the computational power to find the optimal program pulse in a high-dimensional search space. This atomic-intelligence image-recognition scheme is scalable towards larger (e.g. molecular) systems, is readily reprogrammable towards other learning/classification tasks and operates on time scales down to tens of femtoseconds. It has the potential to outpace other currently implemented machine-learning approaches, including the fastest optical on-chip neuromorphic systems and optical accelerators, by orders of magnitude.

Isotopic substitution in molecular systems can affect fundamental molecular properties including the energy position and spacing of electronic, vibrational and rotational levels, thus modifying the dynamics associated to their coherent superposition. In extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy, the photoelectron leaving the molecule after the absorption of a single photon can trigger an ultrafast nuclear motion in the cation, which can lead, eventually, to molecular fragmentation. This dynamics depends on the mass of the constituents of the cation, thus showing, in general, a significant isotopic dependence. In time-resolved attosecond photoelectron interferometry, the absorption of the extreme ultraviolet photon is accompanied by the exchange of an additional quantum of energy (typically in the infrared spectral range) with the photoelectron-photoion system, offering the opportunity to investigate in time the influence of isotopic substitution on the characteristics of the photoionisation dynamics. Here we show that attosecond photoelectron interferometry is sensitive to isotopic substitution by investigating the two-color photoionisation spectra measured in a mixture of methane (CH$_4$) and deuteromethane (CD$_4$). The isotopic dependence manifests itself in the modification of the amplitude and contrast of the oscillations of the photoelectron peaks generated in the two-color field with the two isotopologues. The observed effects are interpreted considering the differences in the time evolution of the nuclear autocorrelation functions in the two molecules.

We observe and control a molecular vibrational wave packet in an electronically excited state of the neutral hydrogen molecule. In an extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) transient-absorption experiment we launch a vibrational wave packet in the $D ^1\Pi_u 3p\pi$ state of H$_2$ and observe its time evolution via the coherent dipole response. The reconstructed time-dependent dipole from experimentally measured XUV absorption spectra provides access to the revival of the vibrational wave packet, which we control via an intense near-infrared (NIR) pulse. Tuning the intensity of the NIR pulse we observe the revival of the wave packet to be significantly modified, which is supported by the results of a multi-level simulation. The NIR field is applied only 7 fs after the creation of the wave packet but influences its evolution up to at least its first revival at 270 fs. This experimental approach for nonlocal-in-time laser control of quantum dynamics is generally applicable to a large range of molecules and materials as it only requires the observation of absorption spectra., Comment: Main text: 13 pages, 3 figures; Supplemental material: 7 pages, 1 figure

The implementation of attosecond photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectroscopy for the investigation of atomic and molecular dynamics calls for a high-repetition-rate driving source combined with experimental setups characterized by excellent stability for data acquisition over time intervals ranging from a few hours up to a few days. This requirement is crucial for the investigation of processes characterized by low cross sections and for the characterization of fully differential photoelectron(s) and photoion(s) angular and energy distributions. We demonstrate that the implementation of industrial-grade lasers, combined with a careful design of the delay line implemented in the pump-probe setup, allows one to reach ultrastable experimental conditions leading to an error in the estimation of the time delays of only 12 as. This result opens new possibilities for the investigation of attosecond dynamics in simple quantum systems.

Grain boundaries (GBs) are a prolific microstructural feature that dominates the functionality of a wide class of materials. The change in functionality at a GB is a direct result of unique local atomic arrangements, different from those in the grain, that have driven extensive experimental and theoretical studies correlating atomic-scale GB structures to macroscopic electronic, infrared-optical, and thermal properties. Here, we examine a SrTiO3 GB using atomic-resolution aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and ultra-high-energy-resolution monochromated electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This combination enables the direct correlation of the GB structure, composition, and chemical bonding with atomic vibrations within the GB dislocation-cores. We observe that nonstoichiometry and changes in coordination and bonding at the GB leads to a redistribution of vibrational states at the GB and its dislocation-cores relative to the bounding grains. The access to localized vibrations within GBs provided by ultrahigh spatial/spectral resolution EELS correlated with atomic coordination, bonding, and stoichiometry and validated by theory, provides a direct route to quantifying the impact of individual boundaries on macroscopic properties., Comment: 41 pages, 15 figures

We measure molecular vibrations with femtometer precision using time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy. For a demonstration, a Raman process excites the A$_{1g}$ mode in gas-phase SF$_6$ molecules with an amplitude of $\approx50$ fm, which is probed by a time-delayed soft x-ray pulse at the sulfur $L_{2,3}$-edge. Mapping the extremely small measured energy shifts to internuclear distances requires an understanding of the electronic contributions provided by a many-body ab initio simulation. Our study establishes core-level spectroscopy as a precision tool for time-dependent molecular-structure metrology.

One of the most enduring and intensively studied problems of X-ray astronomy is the disagreement of state-of-the art theory and observations for the intensity ratio of two Fe XVII transitions of crucial value for plasma diagnostics, dubbed 3C and 3D. We unravel this conundrum at the PETRA III synchrotron facility by increasing the resolving power two and a half times and the signal-to-noise ratio thousand-fold compared to our previous work. The Lorentzian wings had hitherto been indistinguishable from the background and were thus not modeled, resulting in a biased line-strength estimation. The present experimental oscillator-strength ratio $R_\mathrm{exp}=f_{\mathrm{3C}}/f_{\mathrm{3D}}=3.51(2)_{\mathrm{stat}}(7)_{\mathrm{sys}}$ agrees with our state-of-the-art calculation of $R_\mathrm{th}=3.55(2)$, as well as with some previous theoretical predictions. To further rule out any uncertainties associated with the measured ratio, we also determined the individual natural linewidths and oscillator strengths of 3C and 3D transitions, which also agree well with the theory. This finally resolves the decades-old mystery of Fe XVII oscillator strengths., Comment: Main manuscript and supplemental material at https://journals.aps.org/prl/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.245001/LN17392_Supplemental_Material.pdf

Entanglement is one of the most fascinating aspects distinguishing quantum from classical physics. It is the backbone of quantum information processing which relies on engineered quantum systems. It also exists in natural systems such as atoms and molecules, showcased in many experimental instances mostly in the form of entangled photon pairs and a few examples of entanglement between massive particles. Nevertheless, the control of entanglement in natural systems has never been demonstrated. In artificially prepared quantum systems, on the other hand, the creation and manipulation of entanglement lies at the heart of quantum computing currently implemented in a wide array of two-level systems (e.g. trapped ions, superconducting and semiconductor systems). These processes are, however, relatively slow: the time scale of the entanglement generation and control ranges from a couple of {\mu}s in case of trapped-ion quantum systems down to tens of ns in superconducting systems. In this letter, we show ultrafast optical control of entanglement between massive fundamental particles in a natural system on a time scale faster than that available to engineered systems. We demonstrate the sub-femtosecond control of electronic entangled states in a single hydrogen molecule by applying few-photon interactions with adjustable relative delays. This molecular entanglement is revealed in the asymmetric electron emission with respect to the ejected proton in the photodissociation of H2. We anticipate that these results open the way to entanglement-based operations at THz speed.

Visualizing molecular transformations in real-time requires a structural retrieval method with {\AA}ngstr\"om spatial and femtosecond temporal atomic resolution. Imaging of hydrogen-containing molecules additionally requires an imaging method that is sensitive to the atomic positions of hydrogen nuclei, with most methods possessing relatively low sensitivity to hydrogen scattering. Laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) is a table top technique that can image ultrafast structural changes of gas-phase polyatomic molecules with sub-{\AA}ngstr\"om and femtosecond spatiotemporal resolution together with relatively high sensitivity to hydrogen scattering. Here, we image the umbrella motion of an isolated ammonia molecule (NH$_3$) following its strong field ionization. Upon ionization of a neutral ammonia molecule, the ammonia cation (NH$_3^+$) undergoes an ultrafast geometrical transformation from a pyramidal ($\Phi_{HNH} = 107 ^\circ$) to planar ($\Phi_{HNH}=120^\circ$) structure in approximately 8 femtoseconds. Using LIED, we retrieve a near-planar ($\Phi_{HNH}=117 \pm 5^\circ$) field-dressed NH$_3^+$ molecular structure $7.8-9.8$ femtoseconds after ionization. Our measured field-dressed NH$_3^+$ structure is in excellent agreement with our calculated equilibrium field dressed structure using quantum chemical ab initio calculations.

Reconstruction of Attosecond Beating By Interference of Two-photon Transitions (RABBITT) is a technique that can be used to determine the phases of atomic transition elements in photoionization processes. In the traditional RABBITT scheme, the so-called "asymptotic approximation" considers the measured phase as a sum of the Wigner phase linked to a single-photon ionization process and the continuum-continuum (cc) phase associated with further single-photon transitions in the continuum. In this paper, we explore the possibility of extending the asymptotic approximation to multi-sideband RABBITT schemes. The predictions from this approximation are then compared with results obtained by an {\it ab initio} calculation based on solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for atomic hydrogen., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

Photoelectron emission from excited states of laser-dressed atomic helium is analyzed with respect to laser intensity-dependent excitation energy shifts and angular distributions. In the two-color XUV (exteme ultra\-violet) -- IR (infrared) measurement, the XUV photon energy is scanned between \SI{20.4}{\electronvolt} and the ionization threshold at \SI{24.6}{\electronvolt}, revealing electric dipole-forbidden transitions for a temporally overlapping IR pulse ($\sim\!\SI{e12}{\watt\per \centi\meter\squared}$). The interpretation of the experimental results is supported by numerically solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation in a single-active-electron approximation., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

We present the first measurements of photoelectron spectra of atomic clusters embedded in superfluid helium (He) nanodroplets. Owing to the large absorption cross section of xenon (Xe) around 100 eV photon energy (4d inner-shell ionization), direct dopant photoionization exceeds charge transfer ionization via the ionized He droplets. Despite the predominant creation of Xe^2+ and Xe^3+ by subsequent Auger decay of free Xe atoms, for Xe embedded in He droplets only singly charged Xe_k^+, k=1,2,3 fragments are observed. Broad Xe^+ ion kinetic-energy distributions indicate Coulomb explosion of the ions due to electron transfer to the primary Auger ions from surrounding neutral atoms. The electron spectra correlated with Xe ions emitted from the He nanodroplets contain a low-energy feature and nearly unshifted Xe photolines. These results pave the way to extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of clusters and molecular complexes embedded in He nanodroplets.

We resonantly excite the $K$ series of O$^{5+}$ and O$^{6+}$ up to principal quantum number $n=11$ with monochromatic x rays, producing $K$-shell holes, and observe their relaxation by soft-x-ray emission. Some photoabsorption resonances of O$^{5+}$ reveal strong two-electron--one-photon (TEOP) transitions. We find that for the $[(1s\,2s)_1\,5p_{3/2}]_{3/2;1/2}$ states, TEOP relaxation is by far stronger than the radiative decay and competes with the usually much faster Auger decay path. This enhanced TEOP decay arises from a strong correlation with the near-degenerate upper states $[(1s\,2p_{3/2})_1\,4s]_{3/2;1/2}$ of a Li-like satellite blend of the He-like $K\alpha$ transition. Even in three-electron systems, TEOP transitions can play a dominant role, and the present results should guide further research on the ubiquitous and abundant many-electron ions where electronic energy degeneracies are far more common and configuration mixing is stronger., Comment: Published in PRA

Alkali metal dimers attached to the surface of helium nanodroplets are found to be efficiently doubly ionized by electron transfer-mediated decay (ETMD) when photoionizing the helium droplets. This process is evidenced by detecting in coincidence two energetic ions created by Coulomb explosion and one low-kinetic energy electron. The kinetic energy spectra of ions and electrons are reproduced by simple model calculations based on diatomic potential energy curves, and are in agreement with ab initio calculations for the He-Na_2 and He-KRb systems. This work demonstrates that ETMD is an important decay channel in heterogeneous nanosystems exposed to ionizing radiation.

The excitation of the 8 eV $^{229m}$Th isomer through the electronic bridge mechanism in highly charged ions is investigated theoretically. By exploiting the rich level scheme of open $4f$ orbitals and the robustness of highly charged ions against photoionization, a pulsed high-intensity optical laser can be used to efficiently drive the nuclear transition by coupling it to the electronic shell. We show how to implement a promising electronic bridge scheme in an electron beam ion trap starting from a metastable electronic state. This setup would avoid the need for a tunable vacuum ultraviolet laser. Based on our theoretical predictions, determining the isomer energy with an uncertainty of $10^{-5}$ eV could be achieved in one day of measurement time using realistic laser parameters., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

For more than 40 years, most astrophysical observations and laboratory studies of two key soft x-ray diagnostic $2p-3d$ transitions, $3C$ and $3D$, in Fe XVII ions found oscillator strength ratios $f(3C)/f(3D)$ disagreeing with theory, but uncertainties had precluded definitive statements on this much studied conundrum. Here, we resonantly excite these lines using synchrotron radiation at PETRA III, and reach, at a millionfold lower photon intensities, a 10 times higher spectral resolution, and 3 times smaller uncertainty than earlier work. Our final result of $f(3C)/f(3D) = 3.09(8)(6)$ supports many of the earlier clean astrophysical and laboratory observations, while departing by five sigmas from our own newest large-scale ab initio calculations, and excluding all proposed explanations, including those invoking nonlinear effects and population transfers., Comment: Main text (6 pages, 3 figures), Supplmentary Material (8 pages, 4 figure), Published in Physical Review Letters

We demonstrate time-resolved nonlinear extreme-ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy on multiply charged ions, here applied to the doubly charged neon ion, driven by a phase-locked sequence of two intense free-electron laser pulses. Absorption signatures of resonance lines due to 2$p$--3$d$ bound--bound transitions between the spin-orbit multiplets $^3$P$_{0,1,2}$ and $^3$D$_{1,2,3}$ of the transiently produced doubly charged Ne$^{2+}$ ion are revealed, with time-dependent spectral changes over a time-delay range of $(2.4\pm0.3)\,\text{fs}$. Furthermore, we observe 10-meV-scale spectral shifts of these resonances owing to the AC Stark effect. We use a time-dependent quantum model to explain the observations by an enhanced coupling of the ionic quantum states with the partially coherent free-electron-laser radiation when the phase-locked pump and probe pulses precisely overlap in time.

We report on the experimental observation of strong-field dressing of an autoionizing two-electron state in helium with intense extreme-ultraviolet laser pulses from a free-electron laser. The asymmetric Fano line shape of this transition is spectrally resolved, and we observe modifications of the resonance asymmetry structure for increasing free-electron-laser pulse energy on the order of few tens of $\mu$J. A quantum-mechanical calculation of the time-dependent dipole response of this autoionizing state, driven by classical extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) electric fields, reveals a direct link between strong-field-induced energy and phase shifts of the doubly excited state and the Fano line-shape asymmetry. The experimental results obtained at the Free-Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) thus correspond to transient energy shifts on the order of few meV, induced by strong XUV fields. These results open up a new way of performing non-perturbative XUV nonlinear optics for the light-matter interaction of resonant electronic transitions in atoms at short wavelengths., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures

Observing changes in molecular structure requires atomic-scale {\AA}ngstrom and femtosecond spatio-temporal resolution. We use the Fourier transform (FT) variant of laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED), FT-LIED, to directly retrieve the molecular structure of ${\rm H_2O^+}$ with picometre and femtosecond resolution without a priori knowledge of the molecular structure nor the use of retrieval algorithms or ab initio calculations. We identify a symmetrically stretched ${\rm H_2O^+}$ field-dressed structure that is most likely in the ground electronic state. We subsequently study the nuclear response of an isolated water molecule to an external laser field at four different field strengths. We show that upon increasing the laser field strength from 2.5 to 3.8 V/{\AA}, the O-H bond is further stretched and the molecule slightly bends. The observed ultrafast structural changes lead to an increase in the dipole moment of water and, in turn, a stronger dipole interaction between the nuclear framework of the molecule and the intense laser field. Our results provide important insights into the coupling of the nuclear framework to a laser field as the molecular geometry of ${\rm H_2O^+}$ is altered in the presence of an external field.

We determined relative X-ray photon emission cross sections in Fe XVII ions that were mono-energetically excited in an electron beam ion trap. Line formation for the 3s (3s-2p) and 3d (3d-2p) transitions of interest proceeds through dielectronic recombination (DR), direct electron-impact excitation (DE), resonant excitation (RE), and radiative cascades. By reducing the electron-energy spread to a sixth of that of previous works and increasing counting statistics by three orders of magnitude, we account for hitherto unresolved contributions from DR and the little-studied RE process to the 3d transitions, and also for cascade population of the 3s line manifold through forbidden states. We found good agreement with state-of-the-art many-body perturbation theory (MBPT) and distorted-wave (DW) method for the 3s transition, while in the 3d transitions known discrepancies were confirmed. Our results show that DW calculations overestimate the 3d line emission due to DE by ~20%. Inclusion of electron-electron correlation effects through the MBPT method in the DE cross section calculations reduces this disagreement by ~11%. The remaining ~9% in 3d and ~11% in 3s/3d discrepancies are consistent with those found in previous laboratory measurements, solar, and astrophysical observations. Meanwhile, spectral models of opacity, temperature, and turbulence velocity should be adjusted to these experimental cross sections to optimize the accuracy of plasma diagnostics based on these bright soft X-ray lines of Fe XVII., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Accepted in ApJ, in press

Structural information on electronically excited neutral molecules can be indirectly retrieved, largely through pump-probe and rotational spectroscopy measurements with the aid of calculations. Here, we demonstrate the direct structural retrieval of neutral carbonyl disulfide (CS$_2$) in the B$^1$B$_2$ excited electronic state using laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED). We unambiguously identify the ultrafast symmetric stretching and bending of the field-dressed neutral CS$_2$ molecule with combined picometer and attosecond resolution using intrapulse pump-probe excitation and measurement. We invoke the Renner-Teller effect to populate the B$^1$B$_2$ excited state in neutral CS$_2$, leading to bending and stretching of the molecule. Our results demonstrate the sensitivity of LIED in retrieving the geometric structure of CS$_2$, which is known to appear as a two-center scatterer.

Causality implies that by measuring an absorption spectrum, the time-dependent linear response function can be retrieved. Recent experiments suggest a link between the shape of spectral lines observed in absorption spectroscopy with the amplitude and phase of the systems response function. This has even been observed in the presence of strong, nonlinear interactions, which promote the observed system out of equilibrium, making it explicitly time dependent. Thus far, however, only the special case of a sudden modification of the response function was understood analytically, leaving the general case of the dynamical response to arbitrary interactions open to interpretation. Here, we demonstrate that even for the case of a strongly driven, time-dependent system, one can reconstruct the full temporal response information from a single spectrum if a sufficiently short signal is used to trigger the absorption process. This finding is directly applied to a time-domain observation of Rabi cycling between doubly-excited atomic states in the few-femtosecond regime. This general approach unlocks single-shot real-time-resolved signal reconstruction across time scales down to attoseconds for non-equilibrium states of matter. In contrast to available pump-probe schemes, there is no need for scanning time delays in order to access real-time information. The scientific applications of this technique range from testing fundamental quantum dynamics, to measuring and controlling ultrafast, chemical and biological reaction processes., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

Tunneling of a particle through a potential barrier remains one of the most remarkable quantum phenomena. Owing to advances in laser technology, electric fields comparable to those electrons experience in atoms are readily generated and open opportunities to dynamically investigate the process of electron tunneling through the potential barrier formed by the superposition of both laser and atomic fields. Attosecond-time and angstrom-space resolution of the strong laser-field technique allow to address fundamental questions related to tunneling, which are still open and debated: Which time is spent under the barrier and what momentum is picked up by the particle in the meantime? In this combined experimental and theoretical study we demonstrate that for strong-field ionization the leading quantum mechanical Wigner treatment for the time resolved description of tunneling is valid. We achieve a high sensitivity on the tunneling barrier and unambiguously isolate its effects by performing a differential study of two systems with almost identical tunneling geometry. Moreover, working with a low frequency laser, we essentially limit the non-adiabaticity of the process as a major source of uncertainty. The agreement between experiment and theory implies two substantial corrections with respect to the widely employed quasiclassical treatment: In addition to a non-vanishing longitudinal momentum along the laser field-direction we provide clear evidence for a non-zero tunneling time delay. This addresses also the fundamental question how the transition occurs from the tunnel barrier to free space classical evolution of the ejected electron., Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures including appendix