SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 1510.08698

Time-resolved four-wave-mixing spectroscopy for inner-valence transitions

Abstract

Non-collinear four-wave mixing (FWM) techniques at near-infrared (NIR), visible, and ultraviolet frequencies have been widely used to map vibrational and electronic couplings, typically in complex molecules. However, correlations between spatially localized inner-valence transitions among different sites of a molecule in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectral range have not been observed yet. As an experimental step towards this goal we perform time-resolved FWM spectroscopy with femtosecond NIR and attosecond XUV pulses. The first two pulses (XUV-NIR) coincide in time and act as coherent excitation fields, while the third pulse (NIR) acts as a probe. As a first application we show how coupling dynamics between odd- and even-parity inner-valence excited states of neon can be revealed using a two-dimensional spectral representation. Experimentally obtained results are found to be in good agreement with ab initio time-dependent R-matrix calculations providing the full description of multi-electron interactions, as well as few-level model simulations. Future applications of this method also include site-specific probing of electronic processes in molecules.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Thomas Ding, Christian Ott, Andreas Kaldun, Alexander Blättermann, Kristina Meyer, Veit Stooß, Marc Rebholz, Paul Birk, Maximilian Hartmann, Andrew Brown, Hugo Van Der Hart, Thomas Pfeifer. 2015-10-29. Time-resolved four-wave-mixing spectroscopy for inner-valence transitions. https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.41.000709

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Delay-engineered dynamical phases in a programmable non-Markovian spin oscillator

Non-Markovian dynamics offer a new route towards engineering non-equilibrium matter, where memory and feedback act as programmable resources for controlling order in time. Here we report the realization of a non-Markovian spin oscillator in a hot vapour $^{129}$Xe-Cs co-magnetometer with programmable feedback delay and gain. By tuning these parameters, we observe a hierarchy of dynamical phases, including time-crystalline response, nonlinear bifurcations, and frequency-comb formation. The measured spectra and phase boundaries are captured by linear stability analysis of delayed Bloch equations, revealing these phenomena as different manifestations of the same memory-induced instability structure. These results establish time-delayed feedback as a powerful strategy for controlling non-equilibrium phases, enabling quantum sensing, frequency referencing, and synchronization within a single spin-based platform.

physics.atom-ph

Non-stick vacuum wall collisions with a laser-coolable molecule

Molecular species that are suitable for direct laser cooling are typically considered lost or destroyed if they collide with an ambient temperature vacuum wall. Here, we study surface collisions with aluminum monofluoride (AlF), a laser-coolable molecule that survives this process with unusually high probability. We detect the outgoing AlF molecules from a single wall collision via Doppler-sensitive laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, using incoming supersonic (pulsed) and thermochemical (continuous) molecular beams. The angular, velocity and rovibrational level distributions of the outgoing molecules show near-complete thermalisation to the wall in a single collision event. We determine an upper limit to the surface residence time of about 5$~\mu$s, and by monitoring the decay in density of pulses of molecules loaded into a small storage volume, we deduce the surface sticking probability for different materials. For a siloxane-coated metallic surface, the sticking probability of AlF is about 0.015, allowing us to accumulate molecules from the thermochemical source into an ambient temperature storage vessel at densities near $10^{8}~$cm$^{-3}$. This provides a route to compact, portable traps for neutral molecules.

physics.atom-ph

Kinetic modeling of molecular beam formation in a cryogenic buffer-gas cell

Cryogenic buffer-gas cells are widely used to produce cold molecular beams, but the microscopic dynamics governing beam formation remain challenging to model. Here we present fully kinetic simulations of a cryogenic buffer-gas cell using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method implemented in the PICLas framework, treating the buffer gas and ablated molecules within a single unified model. We capture characteristic features of cryogenic buffer-gas sources, including plume cooling, directed transport toward the aperture, and the formation of a slow molecular beam, while also resolving energy transfer from the hot ablation plume to the helium buffer gas that is inaccessible to existing approaches relying on the background-gas approximation. Our results demonstrate that fully kinetic simulations can provide detailed insights into buffer-gas cell dynamics and open a route toward a systematic optimization of such sources.

physics.atom-ph