Route to attosecond nonlinear spectroscopy

Dynamical Franz-Keldysh Effect in Diamond in the Deep Ultraviolet Probed by Transient Absorption and Dispersion Spectroscopy Using a Miniature Beamline

Here, we introduce a miniature beamline for transient absorption and dispersion spectroscopy, using a tailored deep ultraviolet field immediately after the noncollinear generation without subsequent optical elements. We explore the near-band-gap region in diamond in the presence of a few-femtosecond pump pulse where the delayed dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect and the almost instantaneous optical Kerr effect coexist.

A localized view on molecular dissociation via electron-ion partial covariance

Inner-shell photoelectron spectroscopy provides an element-specific probe of molecular structure, as core-electron binding energies are sensitive to the chemical environment. Short-wavelength femtosecond light sources, such as Free-Electron Lasers (FELs), even enable time-resolved site-specific investigations of molecular photochemistry. Here, we study the ultraviolet photodissociation of the prototypical chiral molecule 1-iodo-2-methylbutane, probed by extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses from the Free-electron LASer in Hamburg (FLASH) through the ultrafast evolution of the iodine 4d binding energy. Methodologically, we employ electron-ion partial covariance imaging as a technique to isolate otherwise elusive features in a two-dimensional photoelectron spectrum arising from different photofragmentation pathways. The experimental and theoretical results for the time-resolved electron spectra of the 4d3/2 and 4d5/2 atomic and molecular levels that are disentangled by this method provide a key step towards studying structural and chemical changes from a specific spectator site.

Sub-half-cycle field transients from shock-wave-assisted soliton self-compression

We identify an unusual regime of ultrafast nonlinear dynamics in which an optical shock wave couples to soliton self-compression, steepening the tail of the pulse, thus yielding self-compressing soliton transients as short as the field sub-half-cycle. We demonstrate that this extreme pulse self-compression scenario can help generate sub-half-cycle mid-infrared pulses in a broad class of anomalously dispersive optical waveguide systems.

Generation of deep ultraviolet sub-2-fs pulses

We demonstrate the generation of few-cycle deep ultraviolet pulses via frequency upconversion of 5-fs near-infrared pulses in argon using a laser-fabricated gas cell. The measured spectrum extends from 210 to 340 nm, corresponding to a transform-limited pulse duration of 1.45 fs. We extract from a dispersion-free second-order cross-correlation measurement a pulse duration of 1.9 fs, defining a new record in the deep ultraviolet spectral range.

Resolving multi-exciton generation by attosecond spectroscopy

We propose an experimentally viable attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy scheme to resolve controversies regarding multiexciton (ME) generation in nanoscale systems. Absence of oscillations indicates that light excites single excitons, and MEs are created by incoherent impact ionization. An oscillation indicates the coherent mechanism, involving excitation of superpositions of single and MEs. The oscillation decay, ranging from 5 fs at ambient temperature to 20 fs at 100 K, gives the elastic exciton-phonon scattering time. The signal is best observed with multiple-cycle pump pulses.

Mid-infrared laser filamentation in molecular gases

We observed the filamentation of mid-infrared ultrashort laser pulses (3.9 μm, 80 fs) in molecular gases. It efficiently generates a broadband supercontinuum over two octaves in the 2.5-6 μm spectral range, with a red-shift up to 500 nm due to the Raman effect, which dominates over the blue shift induced by self-steepening and the gas ionization. As a result, the conversion efficiency into the Stokes region (4.3-6 μm) 65% is demonstrated.

Electron correlation dynamics in atoms and molecules

In this paper, we present quantum dynamical calculations on electron correlation dynamics in atoms and molecules using explicitly time-dependent ab initio configuration interaction theory. The goals are (i) to show that in which cases it is possible to switch off the electronic correlation by ultrashort laser pulses, and (ii) to understand the temporal evolution and the time scale on which it reappears. We characterize the appearance of correlation through electron-electron scattering when starting from an uncorrelated state, and we identify pathways for the preparation of a Hartree-Fock state from the correlated, true ground state. Exemplary results for noble gases, alkaline earth elements, and selected molecules are provided. For Mg we show that the uncorrelated state can be prepared using a shaped ultrashort laser pulse.

Multidimensional attosecond resonant X-ray spectroscopy of molecules: lessons from the optical regime

New free-electron laser and high-harmonic generation X-ray light sources are capable of supplying pulses short and intense enough to perform resonant nonlinear time-resolved experiments in molecules. Valence-electron motions can be triggered impulsively by core excitations and monitored with high temporal and spatial resolution. We discuss possible experiments that employ attosecond X-ray pulses to probe the quantum coherence and correlations of valence electrons and holes, rather than the charge density alone, building on the analogy with existing studies of vibrational motions using femtosecond techniques in the visible regime.

Entangled Valence Electron-Hole Dynamics Revealed by Stimulated Attosecond X-ray Raman Scattering

We show that broadband x-ray pulses can create wavepackets of valence electrons and holes localized in the vicinity of a selected atom (nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur in cysteine) by stimulated resonant Raman scattering. The subsequent dynamics reveals highly correlated motions of entangled electrons and hole quasiparticles. This information goes beyond the time-dependent total charge density derived from x-ray diffraction.

Two-dimensional stimulated resonance Raman spectroscopy of molecules with broadband x-ray pulses

Expressions for the two-dimensional stimulated x-ray Raman spectroscopy (2D-SXRS) signal obtained using attosecond x-ray pulses are derived. The 1D- and 2D-SXRS signals are calculated for trans-N-methyl acetamide (NMA) with broad bandwidth (181 as, 14.2 eV FWHM) pulses tuned to the oxygen and nitrogen K-edges. Crosspeaks in 2D signals reveal electronic Franck-Condon overlaps between valence orbitals and relaxed orbitals in the presence of the core-hole.

Filamentation in air with ultrashort mid-infrared pulses

We theoretically investigate filamentation of ultrashort laser pulses in air in the mid-infrared regime under conditions in which the group-velocity dispersion (GVD) is anomalous. When a high-power, ultra-short mid-infrared laser beam centered at 3.1-μm forms a filament, a spatial solitary wave is stabilized by the plasma formation and propagates several times its diffraction length. Compared with temporal self-compression in gases due to plasma formation and pulse splitting in the normal-GVD regime, the minimum achievable pulse duration (∼70 fs) is limited by the bandwidth of the anomalous-GVD region in air. For the relatively high powers, multiple pulse splitting due to the plasma effect and shock formation is observed, which is similar to that which occurs in solids. Our simulations show that the energy reservoir also plays a critical role for longer propagation of the air filament in the anomalous-GVD regime.