Generation of entanglement using a short-wavelength seeded free-electron laser.

Quantum entanglement between the degrees of freedom encountered in the classical world is challenging to observe due to the surrounding environment. To elucidate this issue, we investigate the entanglement generated over ultrafast timescales in a bipartite quantum system comprising two massive particles: a free-moving photoelectron, which expands to a mesoscopic length scale, and a light-dressed atomic ion, which represents a hybrid state of light and matter. Although the photoelectron spectra are measured classically, the entanglement allows us to reveal information about the dressed-state dynamics of the ion and the femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses delivered by a seeded free-electron laser. The observed generation of entanglement is interpreted using the time-dependent von Neumann entropy. Our results unveil the potential for using short-wavelength coherent light pulses from free-electron lasers to generate entangled photoelectron and ion systems for studying spooky action at a distance.

Ultrafast electronic relaxation pathways of the molecular photoswitch quadricyclane.

The light-induced ultrafast switching between molecular isomers norbornadiene and quadricyclane can reversibly store and release a substantial amount of chemical energy. Prior work observed signatures of ultrafast molecular dynamics in both isomers upon ultraviolet excitation but could not follow the electronic relaxation all the way back to the ground state experimentally. Here we study the electronic relaxation of quadricyclane after exciting in the ultraviolet (201 nanometres) using time-resolved gas-phase extreme ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy combined with non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations. We identify two competing pathways by which electronically excited quadricyclane molecules relax to the electronic ground state. The fast pathway (<100 femtoseconds) is distinguished by effective coupling to valence electronic states, while the slow pathway involves initial motions across Rydberg states and takes several hundred femtoseconds. Both pathways facilitate interconversion between the two isomers, albeit on different timescales, and we predict that the branching ratio of norbornadiene/quadricyclane products immediately after returning to the electronic ground state is approximately 3:2.

Femtosecond Polarization Shaping of Free-Electron Laser Pulses.

We demonstrate the generation of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) free-electron laser (FEL) pulses with time-dependent 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 Schrödinger 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.

Doubly ionized OCS bond rearrangement upon fragmentation - experiment and theory.

The dissociation of OCS2+ ions formed by photoionization of the neutral molecule at 40.81 eV is examined using threefold and fourfold electron-ion coincidence spectroscopy combined with high level quantum chemical calculations on isomeric structures and their potential energy surfaces. The dominant dissociation channel of [OCS]2+ is charge separation forming CO+ + S+ ion pairs, found here to be formed with low intensity at a lower-energy onset and with a correspondingly smaller kinetic energy release than in the more intense higher energy channel previously reported. We explain the formation of CO+ + S+ ion pairs at low as well as higher ionization energies by the existence of two predissociation channels, one involving a newly identified COS2+ metastable state. We conclude that the dominant CO+ + S+ channel with 5.2 eV kinetic energy release is reached upon OCS2+ → COS2+ isomerization, whereas the smaller kinetic energy release (of ∼4 eV) results from the direct fragmentation of OCS2+ (X3Σ-) ions. Dissociation of the COS2+ isomer also explains the existence of the minor C+ + SO+ ion pair channel. We suggest that isomerization prior to dissociation may be a widespread mechanism in dications and more generally in multiply charged ion dissociations.

Symmetry breaking in core-valence double ionisation of allene.

Conventional electron spectroscopy is an established one-electron-at-the-time method for revealing the electronic structure and dynamics of either valence or inner shell ionized systems. By combining an electron-electron coincidence technique with the use of soft X-radiation we have measured a double ionisation spectrum of the allene molecule in which one electron is removed from a C1s core orbital and one from a valence orbital, well beyond Siegbahns Electron-Spectroscopy-for-Chemical-Analysis method. This core-valence double ionisation spectrum shows the effect of symmetry breaking in an extraordinary way, when the core electron is ejected from one of the two outer carbon atoms. To explain the spectrum we present a new theoretical approach combining the benefits of a full self-consistent field approach with those of perturbation methods and multi-configurational techniques, thus establishing a powerful tool to reveal molecular orbital symmetry breaking on such an organic molecule, going beyond Löwdins standard definition of electron correlation.

Abiotic molecular oxygen production-Ionic pathway from sulfur dioxide.

Molecular oxygen, O2, is vital to life on Earth and possibly also on exoplanets. Although the biogenic processes leading to its accumulation in Earth's atmosphere are well understood, its abiotic origin is still not fully established. Here, we report combined experimental and theoretical evidence for electronic state-selective production of O2 from SO2, a chemical constituent of many planetary atmospheres and one that played an important part on Earth in the Great Oxidation Event. The O2 production involves dissociative double ionization of SO2 leading to efficient formation of the [Formula: see text] ion, which can be converted to abiotic O2 by electron neutralization or by charge exchange. This formation process may contribute substantially to the abundance of O2 and related ions in planetary atmospheres, such as the Jovian moons Io, Europa, and Ganymede. We suggest that this sort of ionic pathway for the formation of abiotic O2 involving multiply charged molecular ion decomposition may also exist for other atmospheric and planetary molecules.

Observation of Rabi dynamics with a short-wavelength free-electron laser.

Rabi oscillations are periodic modulations of populations in two-level systems interacting with a time-varying field1. They are ubiquitous in physics with applications in different areas such as photonics2, nano-electronics3, electron microscopy4 and quantum information5. 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 approximation6. Although intense nanometre-wavelength light sources have been available for more than a decade7-9, Rabi dynamics at such short wavelengths has not been directly observed. Here we show that femtosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses from a seeded free-electron laser10 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 interactions11. 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 attosecond12 and few-femtosecond13 extreme-ultraviolet pulses, our results unfold opportunities to carry out ultrafast manipulation of coherent processes at short wavelengths using free-electron lasers.

An experimental and theoretical characterization of the electronic structure of doubly ionised disulfur.

Using time-of-flight multiple electron and ion coincidence techniques in combination with a helium gas discharge lamp and synchrotron radiation, the double ionisation spectrum of disulfur (S[Formula: see text]) and the subsequent fragmentation dynamics of its dication are investigated. The S[Formula: see text] sample was produced by heating mercury sulfide (HgS), whose vapour at a suitably chosen temperature consists primarily of two constituents: S[Formula: see text] and atomic Hg. A multi-particle-coincidence technique is thus particularly useful for retrieving spectra of S[Formula: see text] from ionisation of the mixed vapour. The results obtained are compared with detailed calculations of the electronic structure and potential energy curves of S[Formula: see text] which are also presented. These computations are carried out using configuration interaction methodology. The experimental results are interpreted with and strongly supported by the computational results.

Time-Resolved Ultrafast Interatomic Coulombic Decay in Superexcited Sodium-Doped Helium Nanodroplets.

The autoionization dynamics of superexcited superfluid He nanodroplets doped with Na atoms is studied by extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) time-resolved electron spectroscopy. Following excitation into the higher-lying droplet absorption band, the droplet relaxes into the lowest metastable atomic 1s2s 1,3S states from which interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) takes place either between two excited He atoms or between an excited He atom and a Na atom attached to the droplet surface. Four main ICD channels are identified, and their decay times are determined by varying the delay between the XUV pulse and a UV pulse that ionizes the initial excited state and thereby quenches ICD. The decay times for the different channels all fall in the range of ∼1 ps, indicating that the ICD dynamics are mainly determined by the droplet environment. A periodic modulation of the transient ICD signals is tentatively attributed to the oscillation of the bubble forming around the localized He excitation.

Single photon double and triple ionization of allene.

Double and triple ionization of allene are investigated using electron-electron, ion-ion, electron-electron-ion and electron-electron-ion-ion (ee, ii, eei, eeii) coincidence spectroscopies at selected photon energies. The results provide supporting evidence for a previously proposed roaming mechanism in H3+ formation by double ionization. The lowest vertical double ionization energy is found to be 27.9 eV, while adiabatic double ionization is not accessed by vertical ionization at the neutral geometry. The triple ionization energy is found to be close to 50 eV in agreement with theoretical predictions. The doubly charged parent ion is stable up to about 2 eV above the threshold, after which dissociations by charge separation and by double charge retention occur with comparable intensities. Fragmentation to H+ + C3H3+ starts immediately above the threshold as a slow (metastable) decay with 130.5 ± 9.9 ns mean lifetime.

Core-Level Spectroscopy of 2-Thiouracil at the Sulfur L1- and L2,3-Edges Utilizing a SASE Free-Electron Laser.

In this paper, we report X-ray absorption and core-level electron spectra of the nucleobase derivative 2-thiouracil at the sulfur L1- and L2,3-edges. We used soft X-rays from the free-electron laser FLASH2 for the excitation of isolated molecules and dispersed the outgoing electrons with a magnetic bottle spectrometer. We identified photoelectrons from the 2p core orbital, accompanied by an electron correlation satellite, as well as resonant and non-resonant Coster-Kronig and Auger-Meitner emission at the L1- and L2,3-edges, respectively. We used the electron yield to construct X-ray absorption spectra at the two edges. The experimental data obtained are put in the context of the literature currently available on sulfur core-level and 2-thiouracil spectroscopy.

Unravelling the full relaxation dynamics of superexcited helium nanodroplets.

The relaxation dynamics of superexcited superfluid He nanodroplets is thoroughly investigated by means of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) femtosecond electron and ion spectroscopy complemented by time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Three main paths leading to the emission of electrons and ions are identified: droplet autoionization, pump-probe photoionization, and autoionization induced by re-excitation of droplets relaxing into levels below the droplet ionization threshold. The most abundant product ions are He2+, generated by droplet autoionization and by photoionization of droplet-bound excited He atoms. He+ appear with some pump-probe delay as a result of the ejection He atoms in their lowest excited states from the droplets. The state-resolved time-dependent photoelectron spectra reveal that intermediate excited states of the droplets are populated in the course of the relaxation, terminating in the lowest-lying metastable singlet and triplet He atomic states. The slightly faster relaxation of the triplet state compared to the singlet state is in agreement with the simulation showing faster formation of a bubble around a He atom in the triplet state.

Transient resonant Auger-Meitner spectra of photoexcited thymine.

We present the first investigation of excited state dynamics by resonant Auger-Meitner spectroscopy (also known as resonant Auger spectroscopy) using the nucleobase thymine as an example. Thymine is photoexcited in the UV and probed with X-ray photon energies at and below the oxygen K-edge. After initial photoexcitation to a ππ* excited state, thymine is known to undergo internal conversion to an nπ* excited state with a strong resonance at the oxygen K-edge, red-shifted from the ground state π* resonances of thymine (see our previous study Wolf, et al., Nat. Commun., 2017, 8, 29). We resolve and compare the Auger-Meitner electron spectra associated both with the excited state and ground state resonances, and distinguish participator and spectator decay contributions. Furthermore, we observe simultaneously with the decay of the nπ* state signatures the appearance of additional resonant Auger-Meitner contributions at photon energies between the nπ* state and the ground state resonances. We assign these contributions to population transfer from the nπ* state to a ππ* triplet state via intersystem crossing on the picosecond timescale based on simulations of the X-ray absorption spectra in the vibrationally hot triplet state. Moreover, we identify signatures from the initially excited ππ* singlet state which we have not observed in our previous study.

Attosecond electron-spin dynamics in Xe 4d photoionization.

The photoionization of xenon atoms in the 70-100 eV range reveals several fascinating physical phenomena such as a giant resonance induced by the dynamic rearrangement of the electron cloud after photon absorption, an anomalous branching ratio between intermediate Xe+ states separated by the spin-orbit interaction and multiple Auger decay processes. These phenomena have been studied in the past, using in particular synchrotron radiation, but without access to real-time dynamics. Here, we study the dynamics of Xe 4d photoionization on its natural time scale combining attosecond interferometry and coincidence spectroscopy. A time-frequency analysis of the involved transitions allows us to identify two interfering ionization mechanisms: the broad giant dipole resonance with a fast decay time less than 50 as, and a narrow resonance at threshold induced by spin-flip transitions, with much longer decay times of several hundred as. Our results provide insight into the complex electron-spin dynamics of photo-induced phenomena.

Tracking the ultraviolet-induced photochemistry of thiophenone during and after ultrafast ring opening.

Photoinduced isomerization reactions lie at the heart of many chemical processes in nature. The mechanisms of such reactions are determined by a delicate interplay of coupled electronic and nuclear dynamics occurring on the femtosecond scale, followed by the slower redistribution of energy into different vibrational degrees of freedom. Here we apply time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with a seeded extreme ultraviolet free-electron laser to trace the ultrafast ring opening of gas-phase thiophenone molecules following ultraviolet photoexcitation. When combined with ab initio electronic structure and molecular dynamics calculations of the excited- and ground-state molecules, the results provide insights into both the electronic and nuclear dynamics of this fundamental class of reactions. The initial ring opening and non-adiabatic coupling to the electronic ground state are shown to be driven by ballistic S-C bond extension and to be complete within 350 fs. Theory and experiment also enable visualization of the rich ground-state dynamics that involve the formation of, and interconversion between, ring-opened isomers and the cyclic structure, as well as fragmentation over much longer timescales.

Attosecond pulse shaping using a seeded free-electron laser.

Attosecond pulses are central to the investigation of valence- and core-electron dynamics on their natural timescales1-3. The reproducible generation and characterization of attosecond waveforms has been demonstrated so far only through the process of high-order harmonic generation4-7. Several methods for shaping attosecond waveforms have been proposed, including the use of metallic filters8,9, multilayer mirrors10 and manipulation of the driving field11. However, none of these approaches allows the flexible manipulation of the temporal characteristics of the attosecond waveforms, and they suffer from the low conversion efficiency of the high-order harmonic generation process. Free-electron lasers, by contrast, deliver femtosecond, extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray pulses with energies ranging from tens of microjoules to a few millijoules12,13. Recent experiments have shown that they can generate subfemtosecond spikes, but with temporal characteristics that change shot-to-shot14-16. Here we report reproducible generation of high-energy (microjoule level) attosecond waveforms using a seeded free-electron laser17. We demonstrate amplitude and phase manipulation of the harmonic components of an attosecond pulse train in combination with an approach for its temporal reconstruction. The results presented here open the way to performing attosecond time-resolved experiments with free-electron lasers.

Mechanisms of site-specific photochemistry following core-shell ionization of chemically inequivalent carbon atoms in acetaldehyde (ethanal).

Site-specific fragmentation upon 1s photoionisation of acetaldehyde has been studied using synchrotron radiation and a multi-electron-ion coincidence technique based on a magnetic bottle. Experimental evidence is presented that bond rupture occurs with highest probability in the vicinity of the initial charge localisation and possible mechanisms are discussed. We find that a significant contribution to site-specific photochemistry is made by different fragmentation patterns of individual quantum states populated at identical ionisation energies.

Ultrafast Molecular Three-Electron Auger Decay.

Three-electron Auger decay is an exotic and elusive process, in which two outer-shell electrons simultaneously refill an inner-shell double vacancy with emission of a single Auger electron. Such transitions are forbidden by the many-electron selection rules, normally making their decay lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than the few-femtosecond lifetimes of normal (two-electron) Auger decay. Here we present theoretical predictions and direct experimental evidence for a few-femtosecond three-electron Auger decay of a double inner-valence-hole state in CH_{3}F. Our analysis shows that in contrast to double core holes, double inner-valence vacancies in molecules can decay exclusively by this ultrafast three-electron Auger process, and we predict that this phenomenon occurs widely.

Selectivity in fragmentation of N-methylacetamide after resonant K-shell excitation.

The fragmentation pattern of the peptide model system, N-methylacetamide, is investigated using ion time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy after resonant K-shell excitation. Corresponding near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra recorded at high resolution at the C1s, N1s and O1s edges are presented. Analysis of the ion TOF data reveals a multitude of fragmentation channels and dissociation pathways. Comparison between the excitation of six different resonances in the vicinity of the C1s, N1s and O1s edges suggests evidence for site-selective bond breaking. In particular the breaking of the peptide bond and the N-C(α) bond show a clear correlation with resonant excitation at the N1s edge. Also, stronger tendencies towards site-selective bond breaking are found for the generation of single ions compared with ion pairs. Analysis of angular distributions of ions from breakage of the peptide bond yields a fragmentation time of <400 fs.