| 1. |
- Sellberg, Jonas A., et al.
(author)
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Ultrafast X-ray probing of water structure below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature
- 2014
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 510:7505, s. 381-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Water has a number of anomalous physical properties, and some of these become drastically enhanced on supercooling below the freezing point. Particular interest has focused on thermodynamic response functions that can be described using a normal component and an anomalous component that seems to diverge at about 228 kelvin (refs 1-3). This has prompted debate about conflicting theories(4-12) that aim to explain many of the anomalous thermodynamic properties of water. One popular theory attributes the divergence to a phase transition between two forms of liquid water occurring in the 'no man's land' that lies below the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature (T-H) at approximately 232 kelvin(13) and above about 160 kelvin(14), and where rapid ice crystallization has prevented any measurements of the bulk liquid phase. In fact, the reliable determination of the structure of liquid water typically requires temperatures above about 250 kelvin(2,15). Water crystallization has been inhibited by using nanoconfinement(16), nanodroplets(17) and association with biomolecules(16) to give liquid samples at temperatures below T-H, but such measurements rely on nanoscopic volumes of water where the interaction with the confining surfaces makes the relevance to bulk water unclear(18). Here we demonstrate that femtosecond X-ray laser pulses can be used to probe the structure of liquid water in micrometre-sized droplets that have been evaporatively cooled(19-21) below TH. We find experimental evidence for the existence of metastable bulk liquid water down to temperatures of 227(-1)(+2) kelvin in the previously largely unexplored no man's land. We observe a continuous and accelerating increase in structural ordering on supercooling to approximately 229 kelvin, where the number of droplets containing ice crystals increases rapidly. But a few droplets remain liquid for about a millisecond even at this temperature. The hope now is that these observations and our detailed structural data will help identify those theories that best describe and explain the behaviour of water.
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| 2. |
- Beye, M., et al.
(author)
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Selective Ultrafast Probing of Transient Hot Chemisorbed and Precursor States of CO on Ru(0001)
- 2013
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 110:18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have studied the femtosecond dynamics following optical laser excitation of CO adsorbed on a Ru surface by monitoring changes in the occupied and unoccupied electronic structure using ultrafast soft x-ray absorption and emission. We recently reported [M. Dell'Angela et al. Science 339, 1302 (2013)] a phonon-mediated transition into a weakly adsorbed precursor state occurring on a time scale of >2 ps prior to desorption. Here we focus on processes within the first picosecond after laser excitation and show that the metal-adsorbate coordination is initially increased due to hot-electron-driven vibrational excitations. This process is faster than, but occurs in parallel with, the transition into the precursor state. With resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy, we probe each of these states selectively and determine the respective transient populations depending on optical laser fluence. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of CO adsorbed on Ru(0001) were performed at 1500 and 3000 K providing insight into the desorption process.
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| 3. |
- Dell'Angela, M., et al.
(author)
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Real-Time Observation of Surface Bond Breaking with an X-ray Laser
- 2013
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 339:6125, s. 1302-1305
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We used the Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron x-ray laser to probe the electronic structure of CO molecules as their chemisorption state on Ru(0001) changes upon exciting the substrate by using a femtosecond optical laser pulse. We observed electronic structure changes that are consistent with a weakening of the CO interaction with the substrate but without notable desorption. A large fraction of the molecules (30%) was trapped in a transient precursor state that would precede desorption. We calculated the free energy of the molecule as a function of the desorption reaction coordinate using density functional theory, including van der Waals interactions. Two distinct adsorption wells-chemisorbed and precursor state separated by an entropy barrier-explain the anomalously high prefactors often observed in desorption of molecules from metals.
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| 4. |
- Hellmann, S., et al.
(author)
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Time-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at FLASH
- 2012
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In: New Journal of Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1367-2630. ; 14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The technique of time-resolved pump-probe x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) is described in detail. Particular foci lie on the macrobunch resolving detection scheme, the role of vacuum space-charge effects and the synchronization of pump and probe lasers. In an exemplary case study, the complete Ta 4f core-level dynamics in the layered charge-density-wave (CDW) compound 1T-TaS2 in response to impulsive optical excitation is measured on the sub-picosecond to nanosecond timescale. The observed multi-component dynamics is related to the intrinsic melting and reformation of the CDW as well as to extrinsic pump-laser-induced vacuum space-charge effects.
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| 5. |
- Hellmann, S., et al.
(author)
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Ultrafast Melting of a Charge-Density Wave in the Mott Insulator 1T-TaS2
- 2010
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114. ; 105:18
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Femtosecond time-resolved core-level photoemission spectroscopy with a free-electron laser is used to measure the atomic-site specific charge-order dynamics of the charge-density wave in the Mott insulator 1T-TaS2. After strong photoexcitation, a prompt loss of charge order and subsequent fast equilibration dynamics of the electron-lattice system are observed. On the time scale of electron-phonon thermalization, about 1 ps, the system is driven across a phase transition from a long-range charge ordered state to a quasiequilibrium state with domainlike short-range charge and lattice order. The experiment opens the way to study the nonequilibrium dynamics of condensed matter systems with full elemental, chemical, and atomic-site selectivity.
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| 6. |
- Katayama, T., et al.
(author)
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Ultrafast soft X-ray emission spectroscopy of surface adsorbates using an X-ray free electron laser
- 2013
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In: Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena. - : Elsevier BV. - 0368-2048 .- 1873-2526. ; 187, s. 9-14
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on an experimental system designed to probe chemical reactions on solid surfaces on a sub-picosecond timescale using soft X-ray emission spectroscopy at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) free electron laser (FEL) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We analyzed the O 1s X-ray emission spectra recorded from atomic oxygen adsorbed on a Ru(0001) surface at a synchrotron beamline (SSRL, BL13-2) and an FEL beamline (LCLS, SXR). We have demonstrated conditions that provide negligible amount of FEL induced damage of the sample. In addition we show that the setup is capable of tracking the temporal evolution of electronic structure during a surface reaction of submonolayer quantities of CO molecules desorbing from the surface.
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| 7. |
- Schreck, Simon, et al.
(author)
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Reabsorption of Soft X-Ray Emission at High X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Fluences
- 2014
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 113:15, s. 153002-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on oxygen K-edge soft x-ray emission spectroscopy from a liquid water jet at the Linac Coherent Light Source. We observe significant changes in the spectral content when tuning over a wide range of incident x-ray fluences. In addition the total emission yield decreases at high fluences. These modifications result from reabsorption of x-ray emission by valence-excited molecules generated by the Auger cascade. Our observations have major implications for future x-ray emission studies at intense x-ray sources. We highlight the importance of the x-ray pulse length with respect to the core-hole lifetime.
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| 8. |
- Wernet, Philippe, et al.
(author)
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Mapping chemical bonding of reaction intermediates with femtosecond X-ray laser spectroscopy
- 2013
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In: XVIIIth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena. - : EDP Sciences. - 9782759809561 ; , s. 05025-
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We determine the pathways in the photo-dissociation reactions of Fe(CO)5 both in the gas phase and in solution by mapping the valence electronic structure of the reaction intermediates with femtosecond X-ray laser spectroscopy.
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