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Now showing 1 - 10 of 20
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    Signatures of attosecond electronic–nuclear dynamics in the one-photon ionization of molecular hydrogen: analytical model versusab initiocalculations
    ([London] : IOP, 2015) Medišauskas, Lukas; Morales, Felipe; Palacios, Alicia; González-Castrillo, Alberto; Plimak, Lev; Smirnova, Olga; Martín, Fernando; Ivanov, Misha Yu
    We present an analytical model based on the time-dependent WKB approximation to reproduce the photoionization spectra of an H2 molecule in the autoionization region. We explore the nondissociative channel, which is the major contribution after one-photon absorption, and we focus on the features arising in the energy differential spectra due to the interference between the direct and the autoionization pathways. These features depend on both the timescale of the electronic decay of the autoionizing state and the time evolution of the vibrational wavepacket created in this state. With full ab initio calculations and with a one-dimensional approach that only takes into account the nuclear wavepacket associated to the few relevant electronic states we compare the ground state, the autoionizing state, and the background continuum electronic states. Finally, we illustrate how these features transform from molecular-like to atomic-like by increasing the mass of the system, thus making the electronic decay time shorter than the nuclear wavepacket motion associated with the resonant state. In other words, autoionization then occurs faster than the molecular dissociation into neutrals.
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    Sub-cycle valleytronics: control of valley polarization using few-cycle linearly polarized pulses
    (Washington, DC : OSA, 2021) Jiménez-Galán, Álvaro; Silva, Rui E. F.; Smirnova, Olga; Ivanov, Misha
    So far, it has been assumed that selective excitation of a desired valley in the Brillouin zone of a hexagonal two-dimensional material has to rely on using circularly polarized fields. We theoretically demonstrate a way to control the valley excitation in hexagonal 2D materials on a few-femtosecond timescale using a few-cycle, linearly polarized pulse with controlled carrier–envelope phase. The valley polarization is mapped onto the strength of the perpendicular harmonic signal of a weak, linearly polarized pulse, which allows to read this information all-optically without destroying the valley state and without relying on the Berry curvature, making our approach potentially applicable to inversion-symmetric materials. We show applicability of this method to hexagonal boron nitride and MoS2.
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    Chiral dichroism in bi-elliptical high-order harmonic generation
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2018-02-28) Ayuso, David; Decleva, Piero; Patchkovskii, Serguei; Smirnova, Olga
    The application of strong bi-elliptically polarized laser fields to the generation of high-order harmonics in organic molecules offers exceptional opportunities for chiral recognition and chiral discrimination. These fields are made by combining an elliptically polarized fundamental, typically in the infrared range, with its counter-rotating second harmonic. Here we present a theoretical study of the harmonic emission from the chiral molecule propylene oxide in bi-elliptical fields. Our calculations include, for the first time in such a complex system, accurate photorecomination matrix elements, evaluated using the static-exchange density functional theory method. We show that bi-elliptical light can induce strong chiral dichroism in the harmonic spectra of chiral molecules in a broad range of harmonic numbers and ellipticities.
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    Multidimensional high harmonic spectroscopy of polyatomic molecules: detecting sub-cycle laser-driven hole dynamics upon ionization in strong mid-IR laser fields
    (Cambridge [u.a.] : Soc., 2016) Bruner, Barry D.; Mašín, Zdeněk; Negro, Matteo; Morales, Felipe; Brambila, Danilo; Devetta, Michele; Faccialà, Davide; Harvey, Alex G.; Ivanov, Misha; Mairesse, Yann; Patchkovskii, Serguei; Serbinenko, Valeria; Soifer, Hadas; Stagira, Salvatore; Vozzi, Caterina; Dudovich, Nirit; Smirnova, Olga
    High harmonic generation (HHG) spectroscopy has opened up a new frontier in ultrafast science, where electronic dynamics can be measured on an attosecond time scale. The strong laser field that triggers the high harmonic response also opens multiple quantum pathways for multielectron dynamics in molecules, resulting in a complex process of multielectron rearrangement during ionization. Using combined experimental and theoretical approaches, we show how multi-dimensional HHG spectroscopy can be used to detect and follow electronic dynamics of core rearrangement on sub-laser cycle time scales. We detect the signatures of laser-driven hole dynamics upon ionization and reconstruct the relative phases and amplitudes for relevant ionization channels in a CO2 molecule on a sub-cycle time scale. Reconstruction of channel-resolved complex ionization amplitudes on attosecond time scales has been a long-standing goal of high harmonic spectroscopy. Our study brings us one step closer to fulfilling this initial promise and developing robust schemes for sub-femtosecond imaging of multielectron rearrangement in complex molecular systems.
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    NO2molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions for a range of geometries using the R-matrix method
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Brambila, Danilo S.; Harvey, Alex G.; Mašín, Zdeněk; Smirnova, Olga
    We present R-matrix calculations of photoionization from NO2, resolved in energy, angle, and both neutral and ionic state, for a range of molecular geometries, including in the vicinity of the 2A1/2B2 conical intersection.
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    Recent developments in R-matrix applications to molecular processes
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2015) Mašín, Zdeněk; Harvey, Alex; Houfek, Karel; Brambila, Danilo S.; Morales, Felipe; Gorfinkiel, Jimena D.; Tennyson, Jonathan; Smirnova, Olga
    We report on recent developments of the UKRmol suite, an implementation of the molecular R- matrix method and present examples of the calculations (e.g. electron scattering, photoionization, high harmonic generation, etc.) it has enabled.
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    Sub-laser-cycle control of coupled electron–nuclear dynamics at a conical intersection
    ([London] : IOP, 2015) Richter, Maria; Bouakline, Foudhil; González-Vázquez, Jesús; Martínez-Fernández, Lara; Corral, Inés; Patchkovskii, Serguei; Morales, Felipe; Ivanov, Misha; Martín, Fernando; Smirnova, Olga
    Nonadiabatic processes play a fundamental role in the understanding of photochemical processes in excited polyatomic molecules. A particularly important example is that of radiationless electronic relaxation at conical intersections (CIs). We discuss new opportunities for controlling coupled electron–nuclear dynamics at CIs, offered by the advent of nearly single-cycle, phase-stable, mid-infrared laser pulses. To illustrate the control mechanism, a two-dimensional model of the NO2 molecule is considered. The key idea of the control scheme is to match the time scale of the laser field oscillations to the characteristic time scale of the wave packet transit through the CI. The instantaneous laser field changes the shape and position of the CI as the wave packet passes through. As the CI moves in the laser field, it 'slices' through the wave packet, sculpting it in the coordinate and momentum space in a way that is sensitive to the carrier-envelope phase of the control pulse. We find that the electronic coherence imparted on the sub-laser-cycle time scale manifests during much longer nuclear dynamics that follow on the many tens of femtosecond time scale. Control efficiency as a function of molecular orientation is analyzed, showing that modest alignment is sufficient for showing the described effects.
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    Roadmap on photonic, electronic and atomic collision physics: I. Light-matter interaction
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2019) Ueda, Kiyoshi; Sokell, Emma; Schippers, Stefan; Aumayr, Friedrich; Sadeghpour, Hossein; Burgdörfer, Joachim; Lemell, Christoph; Tong, Xiao-Min; Pfeifer, Thomas; Calegari, Francesca; Palacios, Alicia; Martin, Fernando; Corkum, Paul; Sansone, Giuseppe; Gryzlova, Elena V.; Grum-Grzhimailo, Alexei N.; Piancastelli, Maria Novella; Weber, Peter M.; Steinle, Tobias; Amini, Kasra; Biegert, Jens; Berrah, Nora; Kukk, Edwin; Santra, Robin; Müller, Alfred; Dowek, Danielle; Lucchese, Robert R.; McCurdy, C. William; Bolognesi, Paola; Avaldi, Lorenzo; Jahnke, Till; Schöffler, Markus S.; Dörner, Reinhard; Mairesse, Yann; Nahon, Laurent; Smirnova, Olga; Schlathölter, Thomas; Campbell, Eleanor E.B.; Rost, Jan-Michael; Meyer, Michael; Tanaka, Kazuo A.
    We publish three Roadmaps on photonic, electronic and atomic collision physics in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the ICPEAC conference. In Roadmap I, we focus on the light-matter interaction. In this area, studies of ultrafast electronic and molecular dynamics have been rapidly growing, with the advent of new light sources such as attosecond lasers and x-ray free electron lasers. In parallel, experiments with established synchrotron radiation sources and femtosecond lasers using cutting-edge detection schemes are revealing new scientific insights that have never been exploited. Relevant theories are also being rapidly developed. Target samples for photon-impact experiments are expanding from atoms and small molecules to complex systems such as biomolecules, fullerene, clusters and solids. This Roadmap aims to look back along the road, explaining the development of these fields, and look forward, collecting contributions from twenty leading groups from the field. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd.
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    Direct measurement of Coulomb-laser coupling
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2021) Azoury, Doron; Krüger, Michael; Bruner, Barry D.; Smirnova, Olga; Dudovich, Nirit
    The Coulomb interaction between a photoelectron and its parent ion plays an important role in a large range of light-matter interactions. In this paper we obtain a direct insight into the Coulomb interaction and resolve, for the first time, the phase accumulated by the laser-driven electron as it interacts with the Coulomb potential. Applying extreme-ultraviolet interferometry enables us to resolve this phase with attosecond precision over a large energy range. Our findings identify a strong laser-Coulomb coupling, going beyond the standard recollision picture within the strong-field framework. Transformation of the results to the time domain reveals Coulomb-induced delays of the electrons along their trajectories, which vary by tens of attoseconds with the laser field intensity.
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    Attosecond control of spin polarization in electron–ion recollision driven by intense tailored fields
    ([Bad Honnef] : Dt. Physikalische Ges., 2017-07-07) Ayuso, David; Jiménez-Galán, Alvaro; Morales, Felipe; Ivanov, Misha; Smirnova, Olga
    Tunnel ionization of noble gas atoms driven by a strong circularly polarized laser field in combination with a counter-rotating second harmonic generates spin-polarized electrons correlated to the spin-polarized ionic core. Crucially, such two-color field can bring the spin-polarized electrons back to the parent ion, enabling the scattering of the spin-polarized electron on the spin-polarized parent ion. Here we show how one can control the degree of spin polarization as a function of electron energy and recollision time by tuning the laser parameters, such as the relative intensities of the counter-rotating fields. The attosecond precision of the control over the degree of spin polarization opens the door for attosecond control and spectroscopy of spin-resolved dynamics.