2014, Stodolna, A., Huismans, Y., Rouzée, A., Lépine, F., Vrakking, M.J.J.

The application of velocity map imaging for the detection of photoelectrons resulting from atomic or molecular ionization allows the observation of interferometric, and in some cases holographic structures that contain detailed information on the target from which the photoelecrons are extracted. In this contribution we present three recent examples of the use of photoelectron velocity map imaging in experiments where atoms are exposed to strong optical and dc electric fields. We discuss (i) observations of the nodal structure of Stark states of hydrogen measured in a dc electric field, (ii) mid-infrared strong-field ionization of metastable Xe atoms and (iii) the reconstruction of helium electronic wavepackets in an attosecond pump-probe experiment. In each case, the interference between direct and indirect electron pathways, reminiscent of the reference and signal waves in holography, is seen to play an important role.

2014, McFarland, B.K., Berrah, N., Bostedt, C., Bozek, J., Bucksbaum, P.H., Castagna, J.C., Coffee, R.N., Cryan, J.P., Fang, L., Farrell, J.P., Feifel, R., Gaffney, K.J., Glownia, J.M., Martinez, T.J., Miyabe, S., Mucke, M., Murphy, B., Natan, A., Osipov, T., Petrovic, V.S., Schorb, S., Schultz, T., Spector, L.S., Swiggers, M., Tarantelli, F., Tenney, I., Wang, S., White, J.L., White, W., Gühr, M.

Free electron laser (FEL) based x-ray sources show great promise for use in ultrafast molecular studies due to the short pulse durations and site/element sensitivity in this spectral range. However, the self amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) process mostly used in FELs is intrinsically noisy resulting in highly fluctuating beam parameters. Additionally timing synchronization of optical and FEL sources adds delay jitter in pump-probe experiments. We show how we mitigate the effects of source noise for the case of ultrafast molecular spectroscopy of the nucleobase thymine. Using binning and resorting techniques allows us to increase time and spectral resolution. In addition, choosing observables independent of noisy beam parameters enhances the signal fidelity.