Project Goals

Real time observation & control of electronic & molecular motion on atomic length scale making use of ultra-short XUV/X-ray laser sources.

The goal of the project is to study real-time electronic and nuclear dynamics in simple and complex photochemical and photobiological processes. The project has both experimental and theoretical components. Experimentally, we are developing a framework of closely interconnected time-resolved methods, unified by the application of novel XUV/X-ray light sources, both table-top, such as obtained by high harmonic generation or at free electron laser facilities. Using photoionization as a probe step in a pump-probe configuration, we investigate attosecond electronic motion in atoms and molecules and its coupling with the nuclear motion combining the extreme temporal resolution (attosecond) with Ångstrom–scale spatial resolution provided by these new light sources. This experimental framework is complemented by an advanced theory program aiming at (i) tracking down and resolving on the attosecond time scale correlated multi-electron dynamics, and (ii) understanding the impact of coherently excited attosecond multi-electron dynamics on the longer, femtosecond-scale nuclear motion. Our common goal is to push atomic and molecular science beyond the present state of the art by looking at the new time-scale in chemical, physical or atomic processes.

Topics

• Attosecond electronic and nuclear dynamics and control using IR/XUV pump-probe spectroscopy
• Attosecond XUV pump-XUV probe applications
• Time-resolved XUV/X-ray photoelectron imaging and spectroscopy of ultrafast molecular processes
• Theory of attosecond multi-electron dynamics during XUV photoionization and its coupling to nuclear motion at the femtosecond timescale

Key Publications

Highlights

• CRASY Spectroscopy Plays with Quantum Physics
• A look into the Interior of Molecule
• Attosecond control of dissociative molecules