Photoelectron circular dichroism in the multiphoton ionization by short laser pulses. III. Photoionization of fenchone in different regimes.

Photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) in different regimes of multiphoton ionization of fenchone is studied theoretically using the time-dependent single center method. In particular, we investigate the chiral response to the one-color multiphoton or strong-field ionization by circularly polarized 400 nm and 814 nm optical laser pulses or 1850 nm infrared pulse. In addition, the broadband ionization by short coherent circularly polarized 413-1240 nm spanning pulse is considered. Finally, the two-color ionization by the phase-locked 400 nm and 800 nm pulses, which are linearly polarized in mutually orthogonal directions, is investigated. The present computational results on the one-color multiphoton ionization of fenchone are in agreement with the available experimental data. For the ionization of fenchone by broadband and bichromatic pulses, the present theoretical study predicts substantial multiphoton PECDs.

VIA Family-a family-based early intervention versus treatment as usual for familial high-risk children: a study protocol for a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Children born to parents with a severe mental illness, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major recurrent depression, have an increased risk of developing a mental illness themselves during life. These children are also more likely to have developmental delays, cognitive disabilities, or social problems, and they may have a higher risk than the background population of experiencing adverse life events. This is due to both genetic and environmental factors, but despite the well-documented increased risk for children with a familial high risk, no family-based early intervention has been developed for them. This study aims to investigate the effect of an early intervention that focuses on reducing risk and increasing resilience for children in families where at least one parent has a severe mental illness. METHODS/DESIGN: The study is a randomized clinical trial with 100 children aged 6-12 with familial high risk. It is performed in the context of the Danish health-care system. Families will be recruited from registers or be referred from the primary sector or hospitals. The children and their parents will be assessed at baseline and thereafter randomized and allocated to either treatment as usual or VIA Family. The intervention group will be assigned to a multidisciplinary team of specialists from adult mental health services, child and adolescent mental health services, and social services. This team will provide the basic treatment elements: case management, psychoeducation for the whole family, parental training, a safety plan, and potentially an early intervention if the child has mental problems. The study period is 18 months for both groups, and all participants will be assessed at baseline and after 18 months. The primary outcome measure will be daily functioning of the child, and the secondary measures are the psychopathology of the child, days of absence from school, family functioning, child's home environment, and parental stress. DISCUSSION: This study is to our knowledge the first to explore the effects of a multidisciplinary team intervention that provides an intensive and flexible support to match the families' needs for children with a familial high risk for severe mental illness. The study will provide important knowledge about the potential for increasing resilience and reducing risk for children by supporting the whole family. However, a longer follow-up period may be needed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03497663 . Registered on 13 April 2018.

Photoelectron circular dichroism in the multiphoton ionization by short laser pulses. II. Three- and four-photon ionization of fenchone and camphor.

Angle-resolved multiphoton ionization of fenchone and camphor by short intense laser pulses is computed by the time-dependent single center method. Thereby, the photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) in the three-photon resonance enhanced ionization and four-photon above-threshold ionization of these molecules is investigated in detail. The computational results are in satisfactory agreement with the available experimental data, measured for randomly oriented fenchone and camphor molecules at different wavelengths of the exciting pulses. We predict a significant enhancement of the multiphoton PECD for uniaxially oriented fenchone and camphor.

Observation of Enhanced Chiral Asymmetries in the Inner-Shell Photoionization of Uniaxially Oriented Methyloxirane Enantiomers.

Most large molecules are chiral in their structure: they exist as two enantiomers, which are mirror images of each other. Whereas the rovibronic sublevels of two enantiomers are almost identical (neglecting a minuscular effect of the weak interaction), it turns out that the photoelectric effect is sensitive to the absolute configuration of the ionized enantiomer. Indeed, photoionization of randomly oriented enantiomers by left or right circularly polarized light results in a slightly different electron flux parallel or antiparallel with respect to the photon propagation direction-an effect termed photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD). Our comprehensive study demonstrates that the origin of PECD can be found in the molecular frame electron emission pattern connecting PECD to other fundamental photophysical effects such as the circular dichroism in angular distributions (CDAD). Accordingly, distinct spatial orientations of a chiral molecule enhance the PECD by a factor of about 10.

Photoelectron circular dichroism in the multiphoton ionization by short laser pulses. I. Propagation of single-active-electron wave packets in chiral pseudo-potentials.

A theoretical method to study the angle-resolved multiphoton ionization of polyatomic molecules is developed. It is based on the time-dependent formulation of the Single Center (TDSC) method and consists in the propagation of single-active-electron wave packets in the effective molecular potentials in the presence of intense laser pulses. For this purpose, the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for one electron, moving in a molecular field and interacting with an arbitrary laser pulse, is solved in spherical coordinates by an efficient numerical approach. As a test, the method is applied to the one- and two-photon ionizations of a model methane-like chiral system by circularly polarized short intense high-frequency laser pulses. Thereby, we analyze the photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) in the momentum distribution. The considered model application illustrates the capability of the TDSC method to study multiphoton PECD in fixed-in-space and randomly oriented chiral molecules.