arXiv subjects

M. Pitzer

Publications and source records attributed to M. Pitzer.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Fourfold Differential Photoelectron Circular Dichroism

We report on a joint experimental and theoretical study of photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) in methyloxirane. By detecting O 1s-photoelectrons in coincidence with fragment ions, we deduce the molecule's orientation and photoelectron emission direction in the laboratory frame. Thereby, we retrieve a fourfold differential PECD clearly beyond 50%. This strong chiral asymmetry is reproduced by ab initio electronic structure calculations. Providing such a pronounced contrast makes PECD of fixed-in-space chiral molecules an even more sensitive tool for chiral recognition in the gas phase.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2021

Closed-loop recycling of rare liquid samples for gas-phase experiments

Many samples of current interest in molecular physics and physical chemistry exist in the liquid phase and are vaporized for the use in gas cells, diffuse gas targets or molecular gas jets. For some of these techniques the large sample consumption is a limiting factor. When rare, expensive molecules, such as chiral molecules or species with isotopic labels are used, wasting them in the exhaust line of the pumps is a quite expensive and inefficient approach. Therefore, we developed a closed-loop recycling system for molecules with vapor pressures below atmospheric pressure. Once filled, only a few valves have to be opened or closed and a cold trap must be moved. The recycling efficiency per turn exceeds 95 %.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

A new route for enantio-sensitive structure determination by photoelectron scattering on molecules in the gas phase

X-ray as well as electron diffraction are powerful tools for structure determination of molecules. Studies on randomly oriented molecules in the gas-phase address cases in which molecular crystals cannot be generated or the interaction-free molecular structure is to be addressed. Such studies usually yield partial geometrical information, such as interatomic distances. Here, we present a complementary approach, which allows obtaining insight to the structure, handedness and even detailed geometrical features of molecules in the gas phase. Our approach combines Coulomb explosion imaging, the information that is encoded in the molecular frame diffraction pattern of core-shell photoelectrons and ab initio computations. Using a loop-like analysis scheme we are able to deduce specific molecular coordinates with sensitivity even to the handedness of chiral molecules and the positions of individual atoms, as, e.g., protons.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2018

Multiphoton Double Ionization of Helium at 394nm - a Fully Differential Experiment

We report on a kinematically complete experiment on strong field double ionization of helium using laser pulses with a wavelength of 394\,nm and intensities of $3.5-5.7\times10^{14}\,W/cm^2$. Our experiment reaches the most complete level of detail which previously has only been reached for single photon double ionization. We give an overview over the observables on many levels of integration, starting from the ratio of double to single ionization, the individual electron and ion momentum distributions over joint momentum and energy distributions to fully differential cross sections showing the correlated angular momentum distributions. Within the studied intensity range the ratio of double to single ionization changes from $2\times 10^{-4}$ to $1.5\times 10^{-3}$. We find the momentum distributions of the $\rm{He}^{2+}$ ions and the correlated two electron momentum distributions to vary substantially. Only at the highest intensity both electrons are emitted to the same direction while at the lowest intensity back-to-back emission dominates. The joint energy distribution of the electrons shows discrete structures from the energy quantization of the photon field which allows us to count the number of absorbed photons and thus access the parity of the final state. We find the energy of the individual electron to show a peak structure indicating a quantized sharing of the overall energy absorbed from the field. The joint angular momentum distributions of the two electrons show a highly directed emission of both electrons along the polarization axis as well as clear imprints of electron repulsion. They strongly change with the energy sharing between the electrons. The aspect of selection rules in double ionization which are also visible in the presented dataset has been subject to a preceding publication [1].

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Direct observation of interatomic Coulombic decay and subsequent ion-atom scattering in helium nanodroplets

We report on the experimental observation of interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in pure $^4$He nanoclusters of mean sizes between $N \approx$ 5000 and 30000 and the subsequent scattering of energetic He$^+$ fragments inside the neutral cluster by using cold target recoil ion momentum spectroscopy. ICD is induced in He clusters by using vacuum ultraviolet light of $h\nu =$ 67 eV from the BESSY II synchrotron. The electronic decay creates two neighboring ions in the cluster at a well-defined distance. The measured fragment energies and angular correlations show that a main energy loss mechanism of these ions inside the cluster is a single hard binary collision with one atom of the cluster.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2018

Imaging the square of the correlated two-electron wave function of a hydrogen molecule

The toolbox for imaging molecules is well-equipped today. Some techniques visualize the geometrical structure, others the electron density or electron orbitals. Molecules are many-body systems for which the correlation between the constituents is decisive and the spatial and the momentum distribution of one electron depends on those of the other electrons and the nuclei. Such correlations have escaped direct observation by imaging techniques so far. Here, we implement an imaging scheme which visualizes correlations between electrons by coincident detection of the reaction fragments after high energy photofragmentation. With this technique, we examine the H2 two-electron wave function in which electron-electron correlation beyond the mean-field level is prominent. We visualize the dependence of the wave function on the internuclear distance. High energy photoelectrons are shown to be a powerful tool for molecular imaging. Our study paves the way for future time resolved correlation imaging at FELs and laser based X-ray sources.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Experimental Evidence for Selection Rules in Multiphoton Double Ionization of Helium

We report on the observation of phase space modulations in the correlated electron emission after strong field double ionization of helium using laser pulses with a wavelength of 394~nm and an intensity of $3\cdot10^{14}$W/cm$^2$. Those modulations are identified as direct results of quantum mechanical selection rules predicted by many theoretical calculations. They only occur for an odd number of absorbed photons. By that we attribute this effect to the parity of the continuum wave function.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

Two-particle interference of electron pairs on a molecular level

We investigate the photo-doubleionization of $H_2$ molecules with 400 eV photons. We find that the emitted electrons do not show any sign of two-center interference fringes in their angular emission distributions if considered separately. In contrast, the quasi-particle consisting of both electrons (i.e. the "dielectron") does. The work highlights the fact that non-local effects are embedded everywhere in nature where many-particle processes are involved.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

Imaging the He$_2$ quantum halo state using a free electron laser

We report on coulomb explosion imaging of the wavefunction of the quantum halo system He$_2$. Each atom of this system is ionized by tunnelionization in a femto second laser pulse and in a second experiment by single photon ionization employing a free electron laser. We visualize the exponential decay of the probability density of the tunneling particle over distance for over two orders of magnitude up to an internuclear distance of 250 {\AA}. By fitting the slope of the density in the tunneling regime we obtain a binding energy of 151.9 $\pm$ 13.3 neV, which is in agreement with most recent calculations.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2015

Agreement at last: an experimental and theoretical study on the single ionization of helium by fast proton impact

Even though ion/atom-collision is a mature field of atomic physics great discrepancies between experiment and theoretical calculations are still common. Here we present experimental results with highest momentum resolution on single ionization of helium induced by 1\,MeV protons and compare these to different theoretical calculations. The overall agreement is strikingly good and already the first Born approximation yields good agreement between theory and experiment. This has been expected since several decades, but so far has not been accomplished. The influence of projectile coherence effects on the measured data is shortly discussed in line with an ongoing dispute on the existence of nodal structures in the electron angular emission distributions.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2014

Interatomic-Coulombic-decay-induced recapture of photoelectrons in helium dimers

We investigate the onset of photoionization shakeup induced interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in He2 at the He+*(n = 2) threshold by detecting two He+ ions in coincidence. We find this threshold to be shifted towards higher energies compared to the same threshold in the monomer. The shifted onset of ion pairs created by ICD is attributed to a recapture of the threshold photoelectron after the emission of the faster ICD electron.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2013

Vibrationally Resolved Decay Width of Interatomic Coulombic Decay in HeNe

We investigate the ionization of HeNe from below the He 1s3p excitation to the He ionization threshold. We observe HeNe$^+$ ions with an enhancement by more than a factor of 60 when the He side couples resonantly to the radiation field. These ions are an experimental proof of a two-center resonant photoionization mechanism predicted by Najjari et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 153002 (2010)]. Furthermore, our data provide electronic and vibrational state resolved decay widths of interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in HeNe dimers. We find that the ICD lifetime strongly increases with increasing vibrational state.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2013

A measurement of the evolution of Interatomic Coulombic Decay in the time domain

During the last 15 years a novel decay mechanism of excited atoms has been discovered and investigated. This so called ''Interatomic Coulombic Decay'' (ICD) involves the chemical environment of the electronically excited atom: the excitation energy is transferred (in many cases over long distances) to a neighbor of the initially excited particle usually ionizing that neighbor. It turned out that ICD is a very common decay route in nature as it occurs across van-der-Waals and hydrogen bonds. The time evolution of ICD is predicted to be highly complex, as its efficiency strongly depends on the distance of the atoms involved and this distance typically changes during the decay. Here we present the first direct measurement of the temporal evolution of ICD using a novel experimental approach.

physics.atom-ph↗