Time-delay compensated monochromator for the spectral selection of extreme-ultraviolet high-order laser harmonics

Signatures of Conical Intersections in Extreme Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectra of Furan Measured with 15 fs Time Resolution

Ultrafast internal conversion of furan upon deep UV excitation at 200 nm is studied by using extreme ultraviolet time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with a time resolution of 15 fs. Ballistic nuclear wavepacket motion from the 1B2(ππ*) state to the ground state is fully observed using 21.7 eV probe pulses. Through the performance of a comparison with the results of electronic structure calculations at the MS(3)-CASPT2(10,10)/cc-pVTZ level of theory, the photoelectron signals from the conical intersection regions are identified.

Highly efficient and aberration-free off-plane grating spectrometer and monochromator for EUV-soft X-ray applications

We demonstrate a novel flat-field, dual-optic imaging EUV-soft X-ray spectrometer and monochromator that attains an unprecedented throughput efficiency exceeding 60% by design, along with a superb spectral resolution of λ/Δλ > 200 accomplished without employing variable line spacing gratings. Exploiting the benefits of the conical diffraction geometry, the optical system is globally optimized in multidimensional parameter space to guarantee optimal imaging performance over a broad spectral range while maintaining circular and elliptical polarization states at the first, second, and third diffraction orders. Moreover, our analysis indicates minimal temporal dispersion, with pulse broadening confined within 80 fs tail-to-tail and an FWHM value of 29 fs, which enables ultrafast spectroscopic and pump-probe studies with femtosecond accuracy. Furthermore, the spectrometer can be effortlessly transformed into a monochromator spanning the EUV-soft X-ray spectral region using a single grating with an aberration-free spatial profile. Such capability allows coherent diffractive imaging applications to be conducted with highly monochromatic light in a broad spectral range and extended to the soft X-ray region with minimal photon loss, thus facilitating state-of-the-art imaging of intricate nano- and bio-systems, with a significantly enhanced spatiotemporal resolution, down to the nanometer-femtosecond level.

Efficient low-density grating setup for monochromatization of XUV ultrafast light sources

Ultrafast light sources have become an indispensable tool to access and understand transient phenomenon in material science. However, a simple and easy-to-implement method for harmonic selection, with high transmission efficiency and pulse duration conservation, is still a challenge. Here we showcase and compare two approaches for selecting the desired harmonic from a high harmonic generation source while achieving the above goals. The first approach is the combination of extreme ultraviolet spherical mirrors with transmission filters and the second approach uses a normal-incidence spherical grating. Both solutions target time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with photon energies in the 10-20 eV range but are relevant for other experimental techniques as well. The two approaches for harmonic selection are characterized in terms of focusing quality, photon flux, and temporal broadening. It is demonstrated that a focusing grating is able to provide much higher transmission as compared to the mirror+filter approach (3.3 times higher for 10.8 eV and 12.9 times higher for 18.1 eV), with only a slight temporal broadening (6.8% increase) and a somewhat larger spot size (∼30% increase). Overall, our study establishes an experimental perspective on the trade-off between a single grating normal incidence monochromator design and the use of filters. As such, it provides a basis for selecting the most appropriate approach in various fields where an easy-to-implement harmonic selection from high harmonic generation is needed.

Few-Femtosecond C2H4+ Internal Relaxation Dynamics Accessed by Selective Excitation

Dissociation of the ethylene cation is a prototypical multistep pathway in which the exact mechanisms leading to internal energy conversions are not fully known. For example, it is still unclear how the energy is exactly redistributed among the internal modes and which step is rate-determining. Here we use few-femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses of tunable energy to excite a different superposition of the four lowest states of C₂H₄⁺ and probe the subsequent fast relaxation with a short infrared pulse. Our results demonstrate that the infrared pulse photoexcites the cationic ground state (GS) to higher excited states, producing a hot GS upon relaxation, which enhances the fragmentation yield. As the photoexcitation probability of the GS strongly depends on the molecular geometry, the probing by the IR pulse provides information about the ultrafast excited-state dynamics and the type of conical intersection (planar or twisted) involved in the first 20 fs of the nonradiative relaxation.

Controlling Floquet states on ultrashort time scales

The advent of ultrafast laser science offers the unique opportunity to combine Floquet engineering with extreme time resolution, further pushing the optical control of matter into the petahertz domain. However, what is the shortest driving pulse for which Floquet states can be realised remains an unsolved matter, thus limiting the application of Floquet theory to pulses composed by many optical cycles. Here we ionized Ne atoms with few-femtosecond pulses of selected time duration and show that a Floquet state can be observed already with a driving field that lasts for only 10 cycles. For shorter pulses, down to 2 cycles, the finite lifetime of the driven state can still be explained using an analytical model based on Floquet theory. By demonstrating that the amplitude and number of Floquet-like sidebands in the photoelectron spectrum can be controlled not only with the driving laser pulse intensity and frequency, but also by its duration, our results add a new lever to the toolbox of Floquet engineering.

A Tunable Resolution Grating Monochromator and the Quest for Transform Limited Pulses

A variable resolution, transform limited monochromator is designed for the Free Electron Laser (FEL) source of LCLS. It provides monochromatic beam in the 250–1500 eV range, delivering the beam on the second floor of the LCLS experimental Hall. One major requirement for this monochromator is to provide, as close as possible, monochromatic transform limited pulses for time-resolved experiments. The theory and the limit of using classical diffraction scheme to monochromatize Soft X-ray beam, while preserving the pulse length, will be presented, together with the optical scheme of this versatile monochromator design.

Attosecond spectroscopy for the investigation of ultrafast dynamics in atomic, molecular and solid-state physics

Since the first demonstration of the generation of attosecond pulses (1 as = 10^-18s) in the extreme-ultraviolet spectral region, several measurement techniques have been introduced, at the beginning for the temporal characterization of the pulses, and immediately after for the investigation of electronic and nuclear ultrafast dynamics in atoms, molecules and solids with unprecedented temporal resolution. The attosecond spectroscopic tools established in the last two decades, together with the development of sophisticated theoretical methods for the interpretation of the experimental outcomes, allowed to unravel and investigate physical processes never observed before, such as the delay in photoemission from atoms and solids, the motion of electrons in molecules after prompt ionization which precede any notable nuclear motion, the temporal evolution of the tunneling process in dielectrics, and many others. This review focused on applications of attosecond techniques to the investigation of ultrafast processes in atoms, molecules and solids. Thanks to the introduction and ongoing developments of new spectroscopic techniques, the attosecond science is rapidly moving towards the investigation, understanding and control of coupled electron-nuclear dynamics in increasingly complex systems, with ever more accurate and complete investigation techniques. Here we will review the most common techniques presenting the latest results in atoms, molecules and solids.

Broadband Time-Delay and Chirp Compensator for X-ray Pulses

A new type of aberration-corrected time-delay compensating monochromator (TDCM) for soft X-rays is presented. Composed of two identical reflection zone plates (RZPs) on spherical substrates and an intermediate flat mirror for band-pass selection, the TDCM can operate in a wide energy range of about ±20% around the design energy of 410eV. Assuming a source size of 50μm and an angular acceptance of 1 mrad, the spectral resolving power may reach 6×102, at a pulse length as short as 4.3femtoseconds(fs). In the case of μm-sized sources, the resolution can be better than 0.1eV and the sub-fs regime could become accessible. The overall transmission efficiency varies within (4.2–6.0)% across the energy range (310–510) eV. In the complementary mode, chirped-pulse compression works as well. Depending on the properties of the source, simulations predict an up to 9-fold reduction in pulse duration, whereas ≤50% of the peak intensity is maintained.

On obtaining high spectral resolution in extreme ultraviolet/soft X-ray monochromators operating off-plane diffraction in a divergent incident beam

When the trajectory of an incident beam is oriented parallel to the grooves of a periodic grating structure the radiation beam is diffracted off-plane orthogonal to the plane of incidence. The diffraction efficiency in this condition is very high and in a grating with a sawtooth profile it can approach the reflection coefficient for a simple mirror, when the diffraction order of interest follows the direction for specular reflection at the flat part of the steps. When this concept is used in a plane grating in a monochromator for synchrotron radiation sources, the incident beam is almost always collimated in order to minimize any deterioration of the beam properties due to aberrations, which will be introduced in the diffraction process when an uncollimated beam is used. These aberrations are very severe when the groove density is constant. It will be shown that the effect of these aberrations can be corrected after the diffraction by the use of astigmatic focusing. The latter can be provided by a crossed mirror pair with different focal lengths in the corresponding orthogonal directions. Then a monochromator based on this concept can provide source size limited spectral resolution in an uncollimated incident beam. This is identical to the spectral resolution that can be provided by the same grating when operated at the same position in a collimated incident beam. The source size limited spectral resolution in this case corresponds to a high spectral resolving power of better than ΔE/E = 10 000 for photon energies around 300 eV in the soft X-ray range.

Photoemission from Free Particles and Droplets

Intriguing properties of photoemission from free, unsupported particles and droplets were predicted nearly 50 years ago, though experiments were a technical challenge. The last few decades have seen a surge of research in the field, due to advances in aerosol technology (generation, characterization, and transfer into vacuum), the development of photoelectron imaging spectrometers, and advances in vacuum ultraviolet and ultrafast light sources. Particles and droplets offer several advantages for photoemission studies. For example, photoemission spectra are dependent on the particle's size, shape, and composition, providing a wealth of information that allows for the retrieval of genuine electronic properties of condensed phase. In this review, with a focus on submicrometer-sized, dielectric particles and droplets, we explain the utility of photoemission from such systems, summarize several applications from the literature, and present some thoughts on future research directions.

Robustness of the ePIE algorithm for the complete characterization of femtosecond, extreme ultra-violet pulses

Frequency-resolved optical gating for the complete reconstruction of attosecond bursts (FROG-CRAB) is a well-known technique for the complete temporal characterization of ultrashort extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses, with durations down to a few tens of attoseconds. Recently, this technique was extended to few-femtosecond XUV pulses, produced by high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in gases, thanks to the implementation of a robust iterative algorithm: the extended ptychographic iterative engine (ePIE). We demonstrate, by using numerical simulations, that the ptychographic reconstruction technique is characterized by an excellent degree of convergence and robustness. We analyse the effects on pulse reconstruction of various experimental imperfections, namely, the jitter of the relative temporal delay between the XUV pulse and a suitably delayed infrared (IR) pulse and the noise of the measured FROG-CRAB spectrograms. We also show that the ePIE approach is particularly suitable for the reconstruction of incomplete FROG-CRAB spectrograms (i.e., spectrograms with a reduced number of measured time delays) and of spectrograms acquired with a reduced spectral resolution, particularly when relatively high-intensity IR pulses are employed.

Time-resolved XUV ARPES with tunable 24-33 eV laser pulses at 30 meV resolution

High harmonic generation of ultrafast laser pulses can be used to perform angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to map the electronic band structure of materials with femtosecond time resolution. However, currently it is difficult to reach high momenta with narrow energy resolution. Here, we combine a gas phase extreme ultraviolet (XUV) femtosecond light source, an XUV monochromator, and a time-of-flight electron analyzer to develop XUV-based time-resolved ARPES. Our technique can produce tunable photon energy between 24-33 eV with an unprecedented energy resolution of 30 meV and time resolution of 200 fs. This technique enables time-, energy- and momentum-resolved investigation of the nonequilibrium dynamics of electrons in materials with a full access to their first Brillouin zone. We evaluate the performance of this setup through exemplary measurements on various quantum materials, including WTe₂, WSe₂, TiSe₂, and Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ.

Wavefront-propagation simulations supporting the design of a time-delay compensating monochromator beamline at FLASH2

Wavefront-propagation simulations have been performed to complete the design of a monochromator beamline for FLASH2, the variable-gap undulator line at the soft X-ray free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH). Prior to propagation through the beamline optical elements, the parameters of the photon source were generated using the GENESIS code which includes the free-electron laser experimental data. Threshold tolerances for the misalignment of mirror angles are calculated and, since diffraction effects were included in the simulations, the minimum quality with respect to the slope errors required for the optics is determined.

Few-femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses fully reconstructed by a ptychographic technique

Sub-10-fs pulses tunable in the extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) spectral region are particularly important in many research fields: from atomic and molecular spectroscopy to the study of relaxation processes in solids and transition phase processes, from holography to free-electron laser injection. A crucial prerequisite for all applications is the accurate measurement of the temporal characteristics of these pulses. To fulfill this purpose, many phase retrieval algorithms have been successfully applied to reconstruct XUV attosecond pulses. Nevertheless, their extension to XUV femtosecond pulses is not trivial and has never been investigated/reported so far. We demonstrate that ultrashort XUV pulses, produced by high-order harmonic generation, spectrally filtered by a time-delay compensated monochromator, can be fully characterized, in terms of temporal intensity and phase, by employing the ptychographic reconstruction technique while other common reconstruction algorithms fail. This allows us to report on the generation and complete temporal characterization of XUV pulses with duration down to 5 fs, which constitute the shortest XUV pulse ever achieved via a time-delay compensated monochromator.

Cost-effective plane-grating monochromator design for extreme-ultraviolet application

The optical design of a plane-grating monochromator mainly intended for high resolution in the extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray is presented. The configuration has three optical elements. It uses a uniform line-spaced plane grating illuminated in the converging light coming from a focusing concave mirror and an additional plane mirror that is needed to change the grating subtended angle to keep the system in focus on a fixed slit. The parameters of the focusing mirror are determined to introduce a coma that compensates for the coma given by the grating. A monochromator for the 12-50 eV region is designed for application to high-order laser harmonics.

Double-grating monochromatic beamline with ultrafast response for FLASH2 at DESY

The preliminary design of a monochromatic beamline for FLASH2 at DESY is presented. The monochromator is tunable in the 50-1000 eV energy range with resolving power higher than 1000 and temporal response below 50 fs over the whole energy range. A time-delay-compensated configuration using the variable-line-spacing monochromator design with two gratings is adopted: the first grating disperses the radiation on its output plane, where the intermediate slit performs the spectral selection; the second grating compensates for the pulse-front tilt and for the spectral dispersion due to diffraction from the first grating.

Temporal Response of Ultrafast Grating Monochromators

The temporal response of double-grating monochromators is analyzed considering two effects on the ultrafast pulse given by the configuration. The first effect is the compensation of the pulse-front tilt, i.e., all the rays emitted by the source in different directions at the same wavelength have to travel the same optical path. The second effect is the group delay introduced by the two gratings, i.e., different wavelengths within the bandwidth transmitted by the slit travel different paths. The methodology to calculate the group delay introduced by the double-grating configuration is presented. Some practical design examples are provided to show the design rules and the achieved performances.

Coherent diffractive imaging of graphite nanoparticles using a tabletop EUV source

Structural information of nanostructures plays a key role in synthesis of novel nano-sized materials for promising applications such as high-performance nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. In this study, we apply for the first time the state-of-the-art coherent diffractive imaging method to characterize the structure of graphite nanoparticles. A sample with nanographites on a Si₃N₄ support was exposed to 30 nm radiation from a tabletop laser-driven high-order harmonic generation extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source. From the measured far-field diffraction pattern, we were able to reconstruct the distribution of the graphite nanoparticles with a spatial resolution of ∼330 nm using the standard iterative phase retrieval algorithms. A closer look at the reconstructed images reveals possible absorption effects of graphite nanoparticles. This experiment demonstrates the first step towards wide-field and high-resolution imaging of nuclear materials using the newly established lab-scale EUV source. Having such a source opens the door to performing investigations of nuclear graphite and other radioactive material in the lab, thus avoiding the need to transport samples to external facilities.

A table-top monochromator for tunable femtosecond XUV pulses generated in a semi-infinite gas cell: Experiment and simulations

We present a new design of a time-preserving extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) monochromator using a semi-infinite gas cell as a source. The performance of this beamline in the photon-energy range of 20 eV-42 eV has been characterized. We have measured the order-dependent XUV pulse durations as well as the flux and the spectral contrast. XUV pulse durations of ≤40 fs using 32 fs, 800 nm driving pulses were measured on the target. The spectral contrast was better than 100 over the entire energy range. A simple model based on the strong-field approximation is presented to estimate different contributions to the measured XUV pulse duration. On-axis phase-matching calculations are used to rationalize the variation of the photon flux with pressure and intensity.

Grating configurations to compress extreme-ultraviolet ultrashort pulses

It is here discussed the design of ultrafast extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) grating compressors that can be used to condition the spectral phase of ultrashort chirped pulses to compensate for the phase chirp and get closer to the Fourier limit. We discuss the two configurations that can be used to realize the compressor, the classical diffraction mount, and the off-plane one. The concept is applied to the realization of a XUV compressor with applications to free-electron lasers.

Double-configuration grating monochromator for extreme-ultraviolet ultrafast pulses

We present the design and characterization of a double-configuration grating monochromator for the spectral selection of extreme-ultraviolet ultrafast pulses. Two grating geometries are joined in an instrument with two interchangeable diffracting stages, both used at grazing incidence: one with the gratings in the off-plane mount (OPM), the other in the classical diffraction mount (CDM). The use of two stages gives great flexibility: the OPM stage is used for sub-50 fs time response and low spectral resolution, while the CDM stage is for 100-200 fs time response and high spectral resolution. The monochromator spectral and temporal performances have been experimentally demonstrated on a high-order laser-harmonics beam line.

Monochromatization of femtosecond XUV light pulses with the use of reflection zone plates

We report on a newly built laser-based tabletop setup which enables generation of femtosecond light pulses in the XUV range employing the process of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in a gas medium. The spatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics of the XUV beam are presented. Monochromatization of XUV light with minimum temporal pulse distortion is the central issue of this work. Off-center reflection zone plates are shown to be advantageous when selection of a desired harmonic is carried out with the use of a single optical element. A cross correlation technique was applied to characterize the performance of the zone plates in the time domain. By using laser pulses of 25 fs length to pump the HHG process, a pulse duration of 45 fs for monochromatized harmonics was achieved in the present setup.

CITIUS: an infrared-extreme ultraviolet light source for fundamental and applied ultrafast science

We present the main features of CITIUS, a new light source for ultrafast science, generating tunable, intense, femtosecond pulses in the spectral range from infrared to extreme ultraviolet (XUV). The XUV pulses (about 10(5)-10(8) photons/pulse in the range 14-80 eV) are produced by laser-induced high-order harmonic generation in gas. This radiation is monochromatized by a time-preserving monochromator, also allowing one to work with high-resolution bandwidth selection. The tunable IR-UV pulses (10(12)-10(15) photons/pulse in the range 0.4-5.6 eV) are generated by an optical parametric amplifier, which is driven by a fraction of the same laser pulse that generates high order harmonics. The IR-UV and XUV pulses follow different optical paths and are eventually recombined on the sample for pump-probe experiments. We also present the results of two pump-probe experiments: with the first one, we fully characterized the temporal duration of harmonic pulses in the time-preserving configuration; with the second one, we demonstrated the possibility of using CITIUS for selective investigation of the ultra-fast dynamics of different elements in a magnetic compound.

Monochromatizing and focussing femtosecond high-order harmonic radiation with one optical element

A novel approach for monochromatizing and focussing the Vacuum-Ultraviolet and soft x-ray radiation from high-order harmonic generation of a femtosecond optical laser with only one optical element is presented. We demonstrate that off-axis reflection zone plates applied as focussing monochromators allow for efficiently optimizing the trade-off between energy resolution and temporal dispersion of the femtosecond pulses. In the current experimental realization, we show how the temporal dispersion can be varied between 2 fs and 16 fs with a correlating variation of the energy resolution E/ΔE between 20 and 90 for an off-axis reflection zone plate optimized for harmonic 13 at 20.41 eV. We also show how the focal spot size varies correspondingly between 80 × 90 μm(2) and 290 × 140 μm(2) as determined with a computational fitting approach based on a 3D Gaussian model. The diffraction efficiency for the tested zone plates amounts to up to 10%. We furthermore evaluate the influence of pointing stability on the performance of the zone plates. Based on our results we propose an optimized realization of a dedicated beam line for femtosecond pulses from high-order harmonic generation with an off-axis reflection zone plate.

Active-grating monochromator for the spectral selection of ultrashort pulses

Active gratings have been used to realize a grazing-incidence double-grating monochromator for the spectral selection of ultrashort pulses while preserving the temporal duration by compensating for the pulse-front tilt. The active grating consists of a bimorph deformable mirror on the top of which a diffraction grating with laminar profile is realized by UV lithography. The time-delay compensated configuration has been tested with ultrashort pulses at 800 nm. The feasibility of this configuration for the extreme-ultraviolet spectral region has been demonstrated by ray tracing studies.

Pulse compression of phase-matched high harmonic pulses from a time-delay compensated monochromator

Single 32.6 eV high harmonic pulses from a time-delay compensated monochromator were compressed down to 11 ± 3 fs by completely compensating for the pulse-front tilt. The photon flux was intensified up to 5.7×10(9) photons/s on target by implementing high harmonic generation under a phase matching condition in a hollow fiber used for increasing the interaction length. The output photon flux on target from the monochromator was comparable to that from a small synchrotron facility, while the pulse duration was more than three orders of magnitude shorter. This high harmonic beam line fulfills two requirements for time-resolved spectroscopy in extreme ultraviolet region, namely, ultrashort pulses and high photon flux.

Single-grating monochromator for extreme-ultraviolet ultrashort pulses

Extreme-ultraviolet high-order-harmonic pulses with 1.6·10(7) photons/pulse at 32.5 eV have been separated from multiple harmonic orders by a time-preserving monochromator using a single grating in the off-plane mount. This grating geometry gives minimum temporal broadening and high efficiency. The pulse duration of the monochromatized harmonic pulses has been measured to be in the range 20 to 30 fs when the harmonic process is driven by an intense 30 fs near-infrared pulse. The harmonic photon energy is tunable between 12 and 120 eV. The instrument is used in the monochromatized branch of the Artemis beamline at the Central Laser Facility (UK) for applications in ultrafast electron spectroscopy.

Femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with a vacuum-ultraviolet photon source based on laser high-order harmonic generation

A laser-based tabletop approach to femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with photons in the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) energy range is described. The femtosecond VUV pulses are produced by high-order harmonic generation (HHG) of an amplified femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system. Two generations of the same setup and results from photoelectron spectroscopy in the gas phase are discussed. In both generations, a toroidal grating monochromator was used to select one harmonic in the photon energy range of 20-30 eV. The first generation of the setup was used to perform photoelectron spectroscopy in the gas phase to determine the bandwidth of the source. We find that our HHG source has a bandwidth of 140 ± 40 meV. The second and current generation is optimized for femtosecond pump-probe photoelectron spectroscopy with high flux and a small spot size at the sample of the femtosecond probe pulses. The VUV radiation is focused into the interaction region with a toroidal mirror to a spot smaller than 100 × 100 μm(2) and the flux amounts to 10(10) photons/s at the sample at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The duration of the monochromatized VUV pulses is determined to be 120 fs resulting in an overall pump-probe time resolution of 135 ± 5 fs. We show how this setup can be used to map the transient valence electronic structure in molecular dissociation.

Time-preserving grating monochromators for ultrafast extreme-ultraviolet pulses

We analyze the time response of single-grating monochromators for application to extreme-ultraviolet ultrashort pulses. It is shown that time-preserving monochromators can be realized in a single-grating configuration if the number of illuminated grooves is the minimum for a given resolution and the grating time response is close to the Fourier limit for such a resolution. Two different grating configurations are compared: the classical diffraction mount (CDM) and the off-plane mount (OPM). We shown that the CDM is preferred for single-grating monochromators with relatively long time responses, i.e., 100-200 fs, while the OPM is suitable for ultrashort time responses in the 10-50 fs range to realize femtosecond time-preserving monochromators.

Tunable ultrafast extreme ultraviolet source for time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We present a laser-based apparatus suitable for visible pump/extreme UV (XUV) probe time-, energy-, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy utilizing high-harmonic generation from a noble gas. Tunability in a wide range of energies (currently 20-36 eV) is achieved by using a time-delay compensated monochromator, which also preserves the ultrashort duration of the XUV pulses. Using an amplified laser system at 10 kHz repetition rate, approximately 10(9)-10(10) photons/s per harmonic are made available for photoelectron spectroscopy. Parallel energy and momentum detection is carried out in a hemispherical electron analyzer coupled with an imaging detector. First applications demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument to easily select the probe wavelength of choice, to obtain angle-resolved photoemission maps (GaAs and URu(2)Si(2)), and to trace ultrafast electron dynamics in an optically excited semiconductor (Ge).

Nanograting-based compact vacuum ultraviolet spectrometer and beam profiler for in situ characterization of high-order harmonic generation light sources

A compact, versatile device for vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) beam characterization is presented. It combines the functionalities of a VUV spectrometer and a VUV beam profiler in one unit and is entirely supported by a standard DN200 CF flange. The spectrometer employs a silicon nitride transmission nanograting in combination with a microchannel plate-based imaging detector. This enables the simultaneous recording of wavelengths ranging from 10 to 80 nm with a resolution of 0.25-0.13 nm. Spatial beam profiles with diameters up to 10 mm are imaged with 0.1 mm resolution. The setup is equipped with an in-vacuum translation stage that allows for in situ switching between the spectrometer and beam profiler modes and for moving the setup out of the beam. The simple, robust design of the device is well suited for nonintrusive routine characterization of emerging laboratory- and accelerator-based VUV light sources. Operation of the device is demonstrated by characterizing the output of a femtosecond high-order harmonic generation light source.