1. |
- Diesen, Elias, et al.
(author)
-
Ultrafast Adsorbate Excitation Probed with Subpicosecond-Resolution X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy
- 2021
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 127:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We use a pump-probe scheme to measure the time evolution of the C K-edge x-ray absorption spectrum from CO/Ru(0001) after excitation by an ultrashort high-intensity optical laser pulse. Because of the short duration of the x-ray probe pulse and precise control of the pulse delay, the excitation-induced dynamics during the first picosecond after the pump can be resolved with unprecedented time resolution. By comparing with density functional theory spectrum calculations, we find high excitation of the internal stretch and frustrated rotation modes occurring within 200 fs of laser excitation, as well as thermalization of the system in the picosecond regime. The ∼100 fs initial excitation of these CO vibrational modes is not readily rationalized by traditional theories of nonadiabatic coupling of adsorbates to metal surfaces, e.g., electronic frictions based on first order electron-phonon coupling or transient population of adsorbate resonances. We suggest that coupling of the adsorbate to nonthermalized electron-hole pairs is responsible for the ultrafast initial excitation of the modes.
|
|
2. |
- Hennecke, Martin, et al.
(author)
-
Ultrafast opto-magnetic effects in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range
- 2024
-
In: Communications Physics. - : Springer Nature. - 2399-3650. ; 7:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coherent light-matter interactions mediated by opto-magnetic phenomena like the inverse Faraday effect (IFE) are expected to provide a non-thermal pathway for ultrafast manipulation of magnetism on timescales as short as the excitation pulse itself. As the IFE scales with the spin-orbit coupling strength of the involved electronic states, photo-exciting the strongly spin-orbit coupled core-level electrons in magnetic materials appears as an appealing method to transiently generate large opto-magnetic moments. Here, we investigate this scenario in a ferrimagnetic GdFeCo alloy by using intense and circularly polarized pulses of extreme ultraviolet radiation. Our results reveal ultrafast and strong helicity-dependent magnetic effects which are in line with the characteristic fingerprints of an IFE, corroborated by ab initio opto-magnetic IFE theory and atomistic spin dynamics simulations.
|
|
3. |
- Jangid, Rahul, et al.
(author)
-
Extreme Domain Wall Speeds under Ultrafast Optical Excitation
- 2023
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 131:25
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Time-resolved ultrafast EUV magnetic scattering was used to test a recent prediction of > 10 km/s domain wall speeds by optically exciting a magnetic sample with a nanoscale labyrinthine domain pattern. Ultrafast distortion of the diffraction pattern was observed at markedly different timescales compared to the magnetization quenching. The diffraction pattern distortion shows a threshold dependence with laser fluence, not seen for magnetization quenching, consistent with a picture of domain wall motion with pinning sites. Supported by simulations, we show that a speed of approximate to 66 km/s for highly curved domain walls can explain the experimental data. While our data agree with the prediction of extreme, nonequilibrium wall speeds locally, it differs from the details of the theory, suggesting that additional mechanisms are required to fully understand these effects.
|
|
4. |
- Ksenzov, Dmitriy, et al.
(author)
-
Nanoscale Transient Magnetization Gratings Created and Probed by Femtosecond Extreme Ultraviolet Pulses
- 2021
-
In: Nano Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1530-6984 .- 1530-6992. ; 21:7, s. 2905-2911
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We utilize coherent femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pulses 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 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 a rise time close to the FEL pulse duration and similar to 0.5 ps decay time indicative of electron-phonon relaxation. When the sample is magnetized to saturation in an external field, we observe a magnetization grating, which appears on a subpicosecond 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 multiple avenues for studying dynamics of ultrafast magnetic phenomena on nanometer length scales.
|
|
5. |
- LaRue, Jerry, et al.
(author)
-
Symmetry-resolved CO desorption and oxidation dynamics on O/Ru(0001) probed at the C K-edge by ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy
- 2022
-
In: Journal of Chemical Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-9606 .- 1089-7690. ; 157:16
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on carbon monoxide desorption and oxidation induced by 400 nm femtosecond laser excitation on the O/Ru(0001) surface probed by time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy (TR-XAS) at the carbon K-edge. The experiments were performed under constant background pressures of CO (6 × 10−8 Torr) and O2 (3 × 10−8 Torr). Under these conditions, we detect two transient CO species with narrow 2π* peaks, suggesting little 2π* interaction with the surface. Based on polarization measurements, we find that these two species have opposing orientations: (1) CO favoring a more perpendicular orientation and (2) CO favoring a more parallel orientation with respect to the surface. We also directly detect gas-phase CO2 using a mass spectrometer and observe weak signatures of bent adsorbed CO2 at slightly higher x-ray energies than the 2π* region. These results are compared to previously reported TR-XAS results at the O K-edge, where the CO background pressure was three times lower (2 × 10−8 Torr) while maintaining the same O2 pressure. At the lower CO pressure, in the CO 2π* region, we observed adsorbed CO and a distribution of OC–O bond lengths close to the CO oxidation transition state, with little indication of gas-like CO. The shift toward “gas-like” CO species may be explained by the higher CO exposure, which blocks O adsorption, decreasing O coverage and increasing CO coverage. These effects decrease the CO desorption barrier through dipole–dipole interaction while simultaneously increasing the CO oxidation barrier.
|
|
6. |
- Loh, N. Duane, et al.
(author)
-
Sensing the wavefront of x-ray free-electron lasers using aerosol spheres
- 2013
-
In: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 21:10, s. 12385-12394
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Characterizing intense, focused x-ray free electron laser (FEL) pulses is crucial for their use in diffractive imaging. We describe how the distribution of average phase tilts and intensities on hard x-ray pulses with peak intensities of 1021 W/m(2) can be retrieved from an ensemble of diffraction patterns produced by 70 nm-radius polystyrene spheres, in a manner that mimics wavefront sensors. Besides showing that an adaptive geometric correction may be necessary for diffraction data from randomly injected sample sources, our paper demonstrates the possibility of collecting statistics on structured pulses using only the diffraction patterns they generate and highlights the imperative to study its impact on single-particle diffractive imaging.
|
|
7. |
- Pancaldi, Matteo, et al.
(author)
-
High-resolution ptychographic imaging at a seeded free-electron laser source using OAM beams
- 2024
-
In: Optica. - 2334-2536. ; 11:3, s. 403-411
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Electromagnetic waves possessing orbital angular momentum (OAM) are powerful tools for applications in optical communications, quantum technologies, and optical tweezers. Recently, they have attracted growing interest since they can be harnessed to detect peculiar helical dichroic effects in chiral molecular media and in magnetic nanostructures. In this work, we perform single-shot per position ptychography on a nanostructured object at a seeded free-electron laser, using extreme ultraviolet OAM beams of different topological charge orders ℓ generated with spiral zone plates. By controlling ℓ, we demonstrate how the structural features of OAM beam profiles determine an improvement of about 30% in image resolution with respect to conventional Gaussian beam illumination. This result extends the capabilities of coherent diffraction imaging techniques, and paves the way for achieving time-resolved high-resolution (below 100 nm) microscopy on large area samples.
|
|
8. |
- Park, Hyung Joo, et al.
(author)
-
Toward unsupervised single-shot diffractive imaging of heterogeneous particles using X-ray free-electron lasers
- 2013
-
In: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 21:23, s. 28729-28742
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Single shot diffraction imaging experiments via X-ray free-electron lasers can generate as many as hundreds of thousands of diffraction patterns of scattering objects. Recovering the real space contrast of a scattering object from these patterns currently requires a reconstruction process with user guidance in a number of steps, introducing severe bottlenecks in data processing. We present a series of measures that replace user guidance with algorithms that reconstruct contrasts in an unsupervised fashion. We demonstrate the feasibility of automating the reconstruction process by generating hundreds of contrasts obtained from soot particle diffraction experiments.
|
|
9. |
- Pedersoli, Emanuele, et al.
(author)
-
Multipurpose modular experimental station for the DiProI beamline of Fermi@Elettra free electron laser
- 2011
-
In: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 82:4, s. 043711-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a compact modular apparatus with a flexible design that will be operated at the DiProI beamline of the Fermi@Elettra free electron laser (FEL) for performing static and time-resolved coherent diffraction imaging experiments, taking advantage of the full coherence and variable polarization of the short seeded FEL pulses. The apparatus has been assembled and the potential of the experimental setup is demonstrated by commissioning tests with coherent synchrotron radiation. This multipurpose experimental station will be open to general users after installation at the Fermi@Elettra free electron laser in 2011.
|
|
10. |
- Sala, Simone, et al.
(author)
-
Pulse-to-pulse wavefront sensing at free-electron lasers using ptychography
- 2020
-
In: Journal of applied crystallography. - : INT UNION CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. - 0021-8898 .- 1600-5767. ; 53, s. 949-956
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The pressing need for knowledge of the detailed wavefront properties of ultra-bright and ultra-short pulses produced by free-electron lasers has spurred the development of several complementary characterization approaches. Here a method based on ptychography is presented that can retrieve high-resolution complex-valued wavefunctions of individual pulses without strong constraints on the illumination or sample object used. The technique is demonstrated within experimental conditions suited for diffraction experiments and exploiting Kirkpatrick-Baez focusing optics. This lensless technique, applicable to many other short-pulse instruments, can achieve diffraction-limited resolution.
|
|
11. |
- Schreck, Simon, et al.
(author)
-
Atom-Specific Probing of Electron Dynamics in an Atomic Adsorbate by Time-Resolved X-Ray Spectroscopy
- 2022
-
In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 129:27
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The electronic excitation occurring on adsorbates at ultrafast timescales from optical lasers that initiate surface chemical reactions is still an open question. Here, we report the ultrafast temporal evolution of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) of a simple well-known adsorbate prototype system, namely carbon (C) atoms adsorbed on a nickel [Ni(100)] surface, following intense laser optical pumping at 400 nm. We observe ultrafast (∼100 fs) changes in both XAS and XES showing clear signatures of the formation of a hot electron-hole pair distribution on the adsorbate. This is followed by slower changes on a few picoseconds timescale, shown to be consistent with thermalization of the complete C/Ni system. Density functional theory spectrum simulations support this interpretation.
|
|
12. |
- Wang, Hsin-Yi, et al.
(author)
-
Time-resolved observation of transient precursor state of CO on Ru(0001) using carbon K-edge spectroscopy
- 2020
-
In: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 22:5, s. 2677-2684
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The transient dynamics of carbon monoxide (CO) molecules on a Ru(0001) surface following femtosecond optical laser pump excitation has been studied by monitoring changes in the unoccupied electronic structure using an ultrafast X-ray free-electron laser (FEL) probe. The particular symmetry of perpendicularly chemisorbed CO on the surface is exploited to investigate how the molecular orientation changes with time by varying the polarization of the FEL pulses. The time evolution of spectral features corresponding to the desorption precursor state was well distinguished due to the narrow line-width of the C K-edge in the X-ray absorption (XA) spectrum, illustrating that CO molecules in the precursor state rotated freely and resided on the surface for several picoseconds. Most of the CO molecules trapped in the precursor state ultimately cooled back down to the chemisorbed state, while we estimate that ∼14.5 ± 4.9% of the molecules in the precursor state desorbed into the gas phase. It was also observed that chemisorbed CO molecules diffused over the metal surface from on-top sites toward highly coordinated sites. In addition, a new “vibrationally hot precursor” state was identified in the polarization-dependent XA spectra.
|
|
13. |
- Yoon, Chun Hong, et al.
(author)
-
Unsupervised classification of single-particle X-ray diffraction snapshots by spectral clustering
- 2011
-
In: Optics Express. - 1094-4087. ; 19:17, s. 16542-16549
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Single-particle experiments using X-ray Free Electron Lasers produce more than 10(5) snapshots per hour, consisting of an admixture of blank shots (no particle intercepted), and exposures of one or more particles. Experimental data sets also often contain unintentional contamination with different species. We present an unsupervised method able to sort experimental snapshots without recourse to templates, specific noise models, or user-directed learning. The results show 90% agreement with manual classification.
|
|