Isotope effects in dynamics of water isotopologues induced by core ionization at an x-ray free-electron laser.

Dynamical response of water exposed to x-rays is of utmost importance in a wealth of science areas. We exposed isolated water isotopologues to short x-ray pulses from a free-electron laser and detected momenta of all produced ions in coincidence. By combining experimental results and theoretical modeling, we identify significant structural dynamics with characteristic isotope effects in H2O2+, D2O2+, and HDO2+, such as asymmetric bond elongation and bond-angle opening, leading to two-body or three-body fragmentation on a timescale of a few femtoseconds. A method to disentangle the sequences of events taking place upon the consecutive absorption of two x-ray photons is described. The obtained deep look into structural properties and dynamics of dissociating water isotopologues provides essential insights into the underlying mechanisms.

Initial state-selected scattering for the reactions H + CH4/CHD3 and F + CHD3 employing ring polymer molecular dynamics.

The inclusion of nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) in molecular dynamics simulations is one of the major obstacles for an accurate modeling of molecular scattering processes involving more than a couple of atoms. An efficient method to incorporate these effects is ring polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD). Here, we extend the scope of our recently developed method based on non-equilibrium RPMD (NE-RPMD) from triatomic chemical reactions to reactions involving more atoms. We test the robustness and accuracy of the method by computing the integral cross sections for the H/F + CH4/CHD3 reactions where the methane molecule is either initially in its vibrational ground or excited state (C-H stretch). Furthermore, we analyze the extent to which NQEs are described by NE-RPMD. The method shows significant improvement over the quasiclassical trajectory approach while remaining computationally efficient.

Pulse Energy and Pulse Duration Effects in the Ionization and Fragmentation of Iodomethane by Ultraintense Hard X Rays.

The interaction of intense femtosecond x-ray pulses with molecules sensitively depends on the interplay between multiple photoabsorptions, Auger decay, charge rearrangement, and nuclear motion. Here, we report on a combined experimental and theoretical study of the ionization and fragmentation of iodomethane (CH_{3}I) by ultraintense (∼10^{19} W/cm^{2}) x-ray pulses at 8.3 keV, demonstrating how these dynamics depend on the x-ray pulse energy and duration. We show that the timing of multiple ionization steps leading to a particular reaction product and, thus, the product's final kinetic energy, is determined by the pulse duration rather than the pulse energy or intensity. While the overall degree of ionization is mainly defined by the pulse energy, our measurement reveals that the yield of the fragments with the highest charge states is enhanced for short pulse durations, in contrast to earlier observations for atoms and small molecules in the soft x-ray domain. We attribute this effect to a decreased charge transfer efficiency at larger internuclear separations, which are reached during longer pulses.

Observation of the fastest chemical processes in the radiolysis of water.

Elementary processes associated with ionization of liquid water provide a framework for understanding radiation-matter interactions in chemistry and biology. Although numerous studies have been conducted on the dynamics of the hydrated electron, its partner arising from ionization of liquid water, H2O+, remains elusive. We used tunable femtosecond soft x-ray pulses from an x-ray free electron laser to reveal the dynamics of the valence hole created by strong-field ionization and to track the primary proton transfer reaction giving rise to the formation of OH. The isolated resonance associated with the valence hole (H2O+/OH) enabled straightforward detection. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the x-ray spectra are sensitive to structural dynamics at the ionization site. We found signatures of hydrated-electron dynamics in the x-ray spectrum.

Femtosecond response of polyatomic molecules to ultra-intense hard X-rays.

X-ray free-electron lasers enable the investigation of the structure and dynamics of diverse systems, including atoms, molecules, nanocrystals and single bioparticles, under extreme conditions. Many imaging applications that target biological systems and complex materials use hard X-ray pulses with extremely high peak intensities (exceeding 1020 watts per square centimetre). However, fundamental investigations have focused mainly on the individual response of atoms and small molecules using soft X-rays with much lower intensities. Studies with intense X-ray pulses have shown that irradiated atoms reach a very high degree of ionization, owing to multiphoton absorption, which in a heteronuclear molecular system occurs predominantly locally on a heavy atom (provided that the absorption cross-section of the heavy atom is considerably larger than those of its neighbours) and is followed by efficient redistribution of the induced charge. In serial femtosecond crystallography of biological objects-an application of X-ray free-electron lasers that greatly enhances our ability to determine protein structure-the ionization of heavy atoms increases the local radiation damage that is seen in the diffraction patterns of these objects and has been suggested as a way of phasing the diffraction data. On the basis of experiments using either soft or less-intense hard X-rays, it is thought that the induced charge and associated radiation damage of atoms in polyatomic molecules can be inferred from the charge that is induced in an isolated atom under otherwise comparable irradiation conditions. Here we show that the femtosecond response of small polyatomic molecules that contain one heavy atom to ultra-intense (with intensities approaching 1020 watts per square centimetre), hard (with photon energies of 8.3 kiloelectronvolts) X-ray pulses is qualitatively different: our experimental and modelling results establish that, under these conditions, the ionization of a molecule is considerably enhanced compared to that of an individual heavy atom with the same absorption cross-section. This enhancement is driven by ultrafast charge transfer within the molecule, which refills the core holes that are created in the heavy atom, providing further targets for inner-shell ionization and resulting in the emission of more than 50 electrons during the X-ray pulse. Our results demonstrate that efficient modelling of X-ray-driven processes in complex systems at ultrahigh intensities is feasible.

Core hole screening and decay rates of double core ionized first row hydrides.

Because of the high intensity, X-ray free electron lasers allow one to create and probe double core ionized states in molecules. The decay of these multiple core ionized states crucially determines the evolution of radiation damage in single molecule diffractive imaging experiments. Here we have studied the Auger decay in hydrides of first row elements after single and double core ionization by quantum mechanical ab initio calculations. In our approach the continuum wave function of the emitted Auger electron is expanded into spherical harmonics on a radial grid. The obtained decay rates of double K-shell vacancies were found to be systematically larger than those for the respective single K-shell vacancies, markedly exceeding the expected factor of two. This enhancement is attributed to the screening effects induced by the core hole. We propose a simple model, which is able to predict core hole decay rates in molecules with low Z elements based on the electron density in the vicinity of the core hole.

Auger spectrum of a water molecule after single and double core ionization.

The high intensity of free electron lasers opens up the possibility to perform single-shot molecule scattering experiments. However, even for small molecules, radiation damage induced by absorption of high intense x-ray radiation is not yet fully understood. One of the striking effects which occurs under intense x-ray illumination is the creation of double core ionized molecules in considerable quantity. To provide insight into this process, we have studied the dynamics of water molecules in single and double core ionized states by means of electronic transition rate calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. From the MD trajectories, photoionization and Auger transition rates were computed based on electronic continuum wavefunctions obtained by explicit integration of the coupled radial Schrödinger equations. These rates served to solve the master equations for the populations of the relevant electronic states. To account for the nuclear dynamics during the core hole lifetime, the calculated electron emission spectra for different molecular geometries were incoherently accumulated according to the obtained time-dependent populations, thus neglecting possible interference effects between different decay pathways. We find that, in contrast to the single core ionized water molecule, the nuclear dynamics for the double core ionized water molecule during the core hole lifetime leaves a clear fingerprint in the resulting electron emission spectra. The lifetime of the double core ionized water was found to be significantly shorter than half of the single core hole lifetime.

Full counting statistics for noninteracting fermions: joint probability distributions.

The joint probability distribution in the full counting statistics (FCS) for noninteracting electrons is discussed for an arbitrary number of initially separate subsystems which are connected at t = 0 and separated again at a later time. A simple method to obtain the leading-order long-time contribution to the logarithm of the characteristic function is presented which simplifies earlier approaches. New explicit results for the determinant involving the scattering matrices are found. The joint probability distribution for the charges in two leads is discussed for Y junctions and dots connected to four leads.