Mauro Trovò | Searcharxiv

arXiv2023

Nanoscale transient polarization gratings

We present the generation of transient polarization gratings at the nanoscale, achieved using a tailored accelerator configuration of the FERMI free electron laser. We demonstrate the capabilities of such a transient polarization grating by comparing its induced dynamics with the ones triggered by a more conventional intensity grating on a thin film ferrimagnetic alloy. While the signal of the intensity grating is dominated by the thermoelastic response of the system, such a contribution is suppressed in the case of the polarization grating. This exposes helicity-dependent magnetization dynamics that have so-far remained hidden under the large thermally driven response. We anticipate nanoscale transient polarization gratings to become useful for the study of any physical, chemical and biological systems possessing chiral symmetry.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

A new method for measuring angle-resolved phases in photoemission

Quantum mechanically, photoionization can be fully described by the complex photoionization amplitudes that describe the transition between the ground state and the continuum state. Knowledge of the value of the phase of these amplitudes has been a central interest in photoionization studies and newly developing attosecond science, since the phase can reveal important information about phenomena such as electron correlation. We present a new attosecond-precision interferometric method of angle-resolved measurement for the phase of the photoionization amplitudes, using two phase-locked Extreme Ultraviolet pulses of frequency $ω$ and $2ω$, from a Free-Electron Laser. Phase differences $Δ\tilde η$ between one- and two-photon ionization channels, averaged over multiple wave packets, are extracted for neon $2p$ electrons as a function of emission angle at photoelectron energies 7.9, 10.2, and 16.6 eV. $Δ\tilde η$ is nearly constant for emission parallel to the electric vector but increases at 10.2 eV for emission perpendicular to the electric vector. We model our observations with both perturbation and \textit{ab initio} theory, and find excellent agreement. In the existing method for attosecond measurement, Reconstruction of Attosecond Beating By Interference of Two-photon Transitions (RABBITT), a phase difference between two-photon pathways involving absorption and emission of an infrared photon is extracted. Our method can be used for extraction of a phase difference between single-photon and two-photon pathways and provides a new tool for attosecond science, which is complementary to RABBITT.

physics.atom-ph↗