| 1. |
- Makos, I., et al.
(author)
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Attosecond photoelectron spectroscopy using high-harmonic generation and seeded free-electron lasers
- 2023
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In: 2023 Photonics North, PN 2023. - 9798350326734
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work, we use attosecond time-resolved techniques to investigate photoionization dynamics on its natural timescale, employing both high harmonic generation and seeded free-electron lasers to generate extreme ultraviolet attosecond pulse trains for our studies. With the former approach, we examine the role of nuclear motion in molecular photoionization dynamics, while with the latter we introduce a novel attosecond timing tool for single-shot characterization of the relative phase between the XUV and the infrared field.
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| 2. |
- Maroju, Praveen Kumar, et al.
(author)
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Attosecond coherent control of electronic wave packets in two-colour photoionization using a novel timing tool for seeded free-electron laser
- 2023
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In: Nature Photonics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1749-4885 .- 1749-4893. ; 17, s. 200-207
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In ultrafast spectroscopy, the temporal resolution of time-resolved experiments depends on the duration of the pump and probe pulses, and on the control and characterization of their relative synchronization. Free-electron lasers operating in the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions deliver pulses with femtosecond and attosecond duration in a broad array of pump-probe configurations to study a wide range of physical processes. However, this flexibility, together with the large dimensions and high complexity of the experimental set-ups, limits control of the temporal delay to the femtosecond domain, thus precluding a time resolution below the optical cycle. Here we demonstrate a novel single-shot technique able to determine the relative synchronization between an attosecond pulse train-generated by a seeded free-electron laser-and the optical oscillations of a near-infrared field, with a resolution of one atomic unit (24 as). Using this attosecond timing tool, we report the first example of attosecond coherent control of photoionization in a two-colour field by manipulating the phase of high-order near-infrared transitions.
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| 3. |
- Michiels, R., et al.
(author)
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Enhancement of above Threshold Ionization in Resonantly Excited Helium Nanodroplets
- 2021
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 127
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Clusters and nanodroplets hold the promise of enhancing high-order nonlinear optical effects due to their high local density. However, only moderate enhancement has been demonstrated to date. Here, we report the observation of energetic electrons generated by above-threshold ionization (ATI) of helium (He) nanodroplets which are resonantly excited by ultrashort extreme ultraviolet (XUV) free-electron laser pulses and subsequently ionized by near-infrared (NIR) or near-ultraviolet (UV) pulses. The electron emission due to high-order ATI is enhanced by several orders of magnitude compared with He atoms. The crucial dependence of the ATI intensities with the number of excitations in the droplets suggests a local collective enhancement effect.
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| 4. |
- Finetti, P., et al.
(author)
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Pulse duration of seeded free electron lasers
- 2017
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In: Physical Review X. - 2160-3308. ; 7:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The pulse duration, and, more generally, the temporal intensity profile of free-electron laser (FEL) pulses, is of utmost importance for exploring the new perspectives offered by FELs; it is a nontrivial experimental parameter that needs to be characterized. We measured the pulse shape of an extreme ultraviolet externally seeded FEL operating in high-gain harmonic generation mode. Two different methods based on the cross-correlation of the FEL pulses with an external optical laser were used. The two methods, one capable of single-shot performance, may both be implemented as online diagnostics in FEL facilities. The measurements were carried out at the seeded FEL facility FERMI. The FEL temporal pulse characteristics were measured and studied in a range of FEL wavelengths and machine settings, and they were compared to the predictions of a theoretical model. The measurements allowed a direct observation of the pulse lengthening and splitting at saturation, in agreement with the proposed theory.
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| 5. |
- Mirian, N. S., et al.
(author)
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Generation and measurement of intense few-femtosecond superradiant extreme-ultraviolet free-electron laser pulses
- 2021
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In: Nature Photonics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1749-4885 .- 1749-4893. ; 15, s. 523-529
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Free-electron lasers producing ultrashort pulses with high peak power promise to extend ultrafast non-linear spectroscopic techniques into the extreme-ultraviolet-X-ray regime. Key aspects are the synchronization between pump and probe, and the control of the pulse properties (duration, intensity and coherence). Externally seeded free-electron lasers produce coherent pulses that can be synchronized with femtosecond accuracy. An important goal is to shorten the pulse duration, but the simple approach of shortening the seed is not sufficient because of the finite-gain bandwidth of the conversion process. An alternative is the amplification of a soliton in a multistage, superradiant cascade: here, we demonstrate the generation of few-femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses, whose duration we measure by autocorrelation. We achieve pulses four times shorter, and with a higher peak power, than in the standard high-gain harmonic generation mode and we prove that the pulse duration matches the Fourier transform limit of the spectral intensity distribution. By amplifying a soliton in a multistage cascade, few-femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet free-electron laser pulses are achieved.
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| 6. |
- Nandi, Saikat, et al.
(author)
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Observation of Rabi dynamics with a short-wavelength free-electron laser
- 2022
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 608:7923
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rabi oscillations are periodic modulations of populations in two-level systems interacting with a time-varying field(1). They are ubiquitous in physics with applications in different areas such as photonics(2), nano-electronics(3), electron microscopy(4) and quantum information(5). While the theory developed by Rabi was intended for fermions in gyrating magnetic fields, Autler and Townes realized that it could also be used to describe coherent light-matter interactions within the rotating-wave approximation(6). Although intense nanometre-wavelength light sources have been available for more than a decade(7-9), Rabi dynamics at such short wavelengths has not been directly observed. Here we show that femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses from a seeded free-electron laser(10) can drive Rabi dynamics between the ground state and an excited state in helium atoms. The measured photoelectron signal reveals an Autler-Townes doublet and an avoided crossing, phenomena that are both fundamental to coherent atom-field interactions(11). Using an analytical model derived from perturbation theory on top of the Rabi model, we find that the ultrafast build-up of the doublet structure carries the signature of a quantum interference effect between resonant and non-resonant photoionization pathways. Given the recent availability of intense attosecond(12) and few-femtosecond(13) extreme-ultraviolet pulses, our results unfold opportunities to carry out ultrafast manipulation of coherent processes at short wavelengths using free-electron lasers.
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| 7. |
- Perosa, G., et al.
(author)
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Femtosecond Polarization Shaping of Free-Electron Laser Pulses
- 2023
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In: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007. ; 131:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We demonstrate the generation of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) free-electron laser (FEL) pulses with timedependent polarization. To achieve polarization modulation on a femtosecond timescale, we combine two mutually delayed counterrotating circularly polarized subpulses from two cross-polarized undulators. The polarization profile of the pulses is probed by angle-resolved photoemission and above-threshold ionization of helium; the results agree with solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. The stability limit of the scheme is mainly set by electron-beam energy fluctuations, however, at a level that will not compromise experiments in the XUV. Our results demonstrate the potential to improve the resolution and element selectivity of methods based on polarization shaping and may lead to the development of new coherent control schemes for probing and manipulating core electrons in matter.
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| 8. |
- Travnikova, O., et al.
(author)
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Photochemical Ring-Opening Reaction of 1,3-Cyclohexadiene: the True Reactive State
- 2022
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In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 144:48, s. 21878-21886
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The photochemically induced ring-opening isomeriza-tion reaction of 1,3-cyclohexadiene to 1,3,5-hexatriene is a textbook example of a pericyclic reaction and has been amply investigated with advanced spectroscopic techniques. The main open question has been the identification of the single reactive state which drives the process. The generally accepted description of the isomerization pathway starts with a valence excitation to the lowest lying bright state, followed by a passage through a conical intersection to the lowest lying doubly excited state, and finally a branching between either the return to the ground state of the cyclic molecule or the actual ring-opening reaction leading to the open-chain isomer. Here, in a joint experimental and computational effort, we demonstrate that the evolution of the excitation-deexcitation process is much more complex than that usually described. In particular, we show that an initially high-lying electronic state smoothly decreasing in energy along the reaction path plays a key role in the ring-opening reaction.
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| 9. |
- Uhl, D., et al.
(author)
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Extreme Ultraviolet Wave Packet Interferometry of the Autoionizing HeNe Dimer
- 2022
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In: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7185. ; 13:36, s. 8470-8476
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Femtosecond extreme ultraviolet wave packet interferometry (XUV-WPI) was applied to study resonant interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in the HeNe dimer. The high demands on phase stability and sensitivity for vibronic XUV-WPI of molecular-beam targets are met using an XUV phase-cycling scheme. The detected quantum interferences exhibit vibronic dephasing and rephasing signatures along with an ultrafast decoherence assigned to the ICD process. A Fourier analysis reveals the molecular absorption spectrum with high resolution. The demonstrated experiment shows a promising route for the real-time analysis of ultrafast ICD processes with both high temporal and high spectral resolution. © 2022 American Chemical Society.
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| 10. |
- Žitnik, M., et al.
(author)
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Atomic two-color XUV interferometer
- 2023
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In: 2023 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe and European Quantum Electronics Conference, CLEO/Europe-EQEC 2023. - 9798350345995
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We extend our recently published work which demonstrated the coherent control of population of 2s21S doubly excited state in helium by tuning the interference of ω1 + ω1 and ω3 − ω1 two-photon excitation paths [1]. The maximum yield of electrons from 2s2 autoionization was observed when the two-color phase difference matched phase difference of the atomic amplitudes describing the two alternative excitation paths. A displacement of position of the maximum yield in the same reference frame therefore signals the presence of an additional phase shifting agent along any of the two paths and also provides a measure of the corresponding phase shift. This constitutes the operational principle of an atomic XUV interferometer which is comparable to the well-known RABBITT method based on using a combination of XUV and IR light pulses [2]. The work was performed at LDM beamline at the free-electron-laser facility FERMI in Trieste (Italy). The phase difference of the two components of the light pulse was set by slightly delaying the ω3 emission from the last three undulators with respect to the ω1 emission produced by the first three undulators and this was achieved by delaying the generating electron bunch by properly adjusted magnetic chicane in between the two undulator sections.
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