Novel collective autoionization process observed in electron spectra of He clusters

Efficient Indirect Interatomic Coulombic Decay Induced by Photoelectron Impact Excitation in Large Pure Helium Nanodroplets

Ionization of matter by energetic radiation generally causes complex secondary reactions that are hard to decipher. Using large helium nanodroplets irradiated by extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photons, we show that the full chain of processes ensuing primary photoionization can be tracked in detail by means of high-resolution electron spectroscopy. We find that elastic and inelastic scattering of photoelectrons efficiently induces interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in the droplets. This type of indirect ICD even becomes the dominant process of electron emission in nearly the entire XUV range in large droplets with radius ≳40  nm. Indirect ICD processes induced by electron scattering likely play an important role in other condensed-phase systems exposed to ionizing radiation as well, including biological matter.

Three-Electron Dynamics of the Interparticle Coulombic Decay in Doubly Excited Clusters with One-Dimensional Continuum Confinement

A detailed analysis of the electronic structure and decay dynamics in a symmetric system with three electrons in three linearly aligned binding sites representing quantum dots (QDs) is given. The two outer A QDs are two-level potentials and can act as (virtual) photon emitters, whereas the central B QD can be ionized from its one level into a continuum confined on the QD axis upon absorbing virtual photons in the inter-Coulombic decay (ICD) process. Two scenarios in such an ABA array are explored. One ICD process is from a singly excited resonance state, whose decay releasing one virtual photon we find superimposed with resonance energy transfer among both A QDs. Moreover, the decay-process manifold for a doubly excited (DE) resonance is explored, in which collective ICD among all three sites and excited ICD among the outer QDs engage. Rates for all processes are found to be extremely low, although ICD rates with two neighbors are predicted to double compared to ICD among two sites only. The slowing is caused by Coulomb barriers imposed from ground or excited state electrons in the A sites. Outliers occur on the one hand at short distances, where the charge transfer among QDs mixes the possible decay pathways. On the other hand, we discovered a shape resonance-enhanced DE-ICD pathway, in which an excited and localized B* shape resonance state forms, which is able to decay quickly into the final ICD continuum.

Chemistry and physics of dopants embedded in helium droplets

Helium droplets represent a cold inert matrix, free of walls with outstanding properties to grow complexes and clusters at conditions that are perfect to simulate cold and dense regions of the interstellar medium. At sub-Kelvin temperatures, barrierless reactions triggered by radicals or ions have been observed and studied by optical spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The present review summarizes developments of experimental techniques and methods and recent results they enabled.

Time-Resolved Ultrafast Interatomic Coulombic Decay in Superexcited Sodium-Doped Helium Nanodroplets

The autoionization dynamics of superexcited superfluid He nanodroplets doped with Na atoms is studied by extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) time-resolved electron spectroscopy. Following excitation into the higher-lying droplet absorption band, the droplet relaxes into the lowest metastable atomic 1s2s ^1,3S states from which interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) takes place either between two excited He atoms or between an excited He atom and a Na atom attached to the droplet surface. Four main ICD channels are identified, and their decay times are determined by varying the delay between the XUV pulse and a UV pulse that ionizes the initial excited state and thereby quenches ICD. The decay times for the different channels all fall in the range of ∼1 ps, indicating that the ICD dynamics are mainly determined by the droplet environment. A periodic modulation of the transient ICD signals is tentatively attributed to the oscillation of the bubble forming around the localized He excitation.

Impact of cavity on interatomic Coulombic decay

The interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) is an efficient electronic decay process of systems embedded in environment. In ICD, the excess energy of an excited atom A is efficiently utilized to ionize a neighboring atom B. In quantum light, an ensemble of atoms A form polaritonic states which can undergo ICD with B. Here we investigate the impact of quantum light on ICD and show that this process is strongly altered compared to classical ICD. The ICD rate depends sensitively on the atomic distribution and orientation of the ensemble. It is stressed that in contrast to superposition states formed by a laser, forming polaritons by a cavity enables to control the emergence and suppression, as well as the efficiency of ICD.

Interatomic and Intermolecular Coulombic Decay

Interatomic or intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD) is a nonlocal electronic decay mechanism occurring in weakly bound matter. In an ICD process, energy released by electronic relaxation of an excited atom or molecule leads to ionization of a neighboring one via Coulombic electron interactions. ICD has been predicted theoretically in the mid nineties of the last century, and its existence has been confirmed experimentally approximately ten years later. Since then, a number of fundamental and applied aspects have been studied in this quickly growing field of research. This review provides an introduction to ICD and draws the connection to related energy transfer and ionization processes. The theoretical approaches for the description of ICD as well as the experimental techniques developed and employed for its investigation are described. The existing body of literature on experimental and theoretical studies of ICD processes in different atomic and molecular systems is reviewed.

THz streak camera performance for single-shot characterization of XUV pulses with complex temporal structures

The THz-field-driven streak camera has proven to be a powerful diagnostic-technique that enables the shot-to-shot characterization of the duration and the arrival time jitter of free electron laser (FEL) pulses. Here we investigate the performance of three computational approaches capable to determine the duration of FEL pulses with complex temporal structures from single-shot measurements of up to three simultaneously recorded spectra. We use numerically simulated FEL pulses in order to validate the accuracy of the pulse length retrieval in average as well as in a single-shot mode. We discuss requirements for the THz field strength in order to achieve reliable results and compare our numerical study with the analysis of experimental data that were obtained at the FEL in Hamburg - FLASH.

Charge Exchange Dominates Long-Range Interatomic Coulombic Decay of Excited Metal-Doped Helium Nanodroplets

Atoms and molecules attached to rare-gas clusters are ionized by an interatomic autoionization process traditionally termed "Penning ionization" when the host cluster is resonantly excited. Here we analyze this process in the light of the interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) mechanism, which usually contains a contribution from charge exchange at a short interatomic distance and one from virtual photon transfer at a large interatomic distance. For helium (He) nanodroplets doped with alkali metal atoms (Li, Rb), we show that long-range and short-range contributions to the interatomic autoionization can be clearly distinguished by detecting electrons and ions in coincidence. Surprisingly, ab initio calculations show that even for alkali metal atoms floating in dimples at a large distance from the nanodroplet surface, autoionization is largely dominated by charge-exchange ICD. Furthermore, the measured electron spectra manifest the ultrafast internal relaxation of the droplet mainly into the 1s2s¹S state and partially into the metastable 1s2s³S state.

Delocalized excitons and interaction effects in extremely dilute thermal ensembles

Long-range interparticle interactions are revealed in extremely dilute thermal atomic ensembles using highly sensitive nonlinear femtosecond spectroscopy. Delocalized excitons are detected in the atomic systems at particle densities where the mean interatomic distance (>10 μm) is much greater than the laser wavelength and multi-particle coherences should destructively interfere over the ensemble average. With a combined experimental and theoretical analysis, we identify an effective interaction mechanism, presumably of dipolar nature, as the origin of the excitonic signals. Our study implies that even in highly-dilute thermal atom ensembles, significant transition dipole-dipole interaction networks may form that require advanced modeling beyond the nearest neighbor approximation to quantitatively capture the details of their many-body properties.

Low-Energy Electron Emission in the Strong-Field Ionization of Rare Gas Clusters

Clusters and nanoparticles have been widely investigated to determine how plasmonic near fields influence the strong-field induced energetic electron emission from finite systems. We focus on the contrary, i.e., the slow electrons, and discuss a hitherto unidentified low-energy structure (LES) in the photoemission spectra of rare gas clusters in intense near-infrared laser pulses. For Ar and Kr clusters we find, besides field-driven fast electrons, a robust and nearly isotropic emission of electrons with <4  eV kinetic energies that dominates the total yield. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal a correlated few-body decay process involving quasifree electrons and multiply excited ions in the nonequilibrium nanoplasma that results in a dominant LES feature. Our results indicate that the LES emission occurs after significant nanoplasma expansion, and that it is a generic phenomenon in intense laser nanoparticle interactions, which is likely to influence the formation of highly charged ions.

Short-wavelength free-electron laser sources and science: a review

This review is focused on free-electron lasers (FELs) in the hard to soft x-ray regime. The aim is to provide newcomers to the area with insights into: the basic physics of FELs, the qualities of the radiation they produce, the challenges of transmitting that radiation to end users and the diversity of current scientific applications. Initial consideration is given to FEL theory in order to provide the foundation for discussion of FEL output properties and the technical challenges of short-wavelength FELs. This is followed by an overview of existing x-ray FEL facilities, future facilities and FEL frontiers. To provide a context for information in the above sections, a detailed comparison of the photon pulse characteristics of FEL sources with those of other sources of high brightness x-rays is made. A brief summary of FEL beamline design and photon diagnostics then precedes an overview of FEL scientific applications. Recent highlights are covered in sections on structural biology, atomic and molecular physics, photochemistry, non-linear spectroscopy, shock physics, solid density plasmas. A short industrial perspective is also included to emphasise potential in this area.

Interatomic Coulombic Decay: The Mechanism for Rapid Deexcitation of Hollow Atoms

The impact of a highly charged ion onto a solid gives rise to charge exchange between the ion and target atoms, so that a slow ion gets neutralized in the vicinity of the surface. Using highly charged Ar and Xe ions and the surface-only material graphene as a target, we show that the neutralization and deexcitation of the ions proceeds on a sub-10 fs time scale. We further demonstrate that a multiple Interatomic Coulombic Decay (ICD) model can describe the observed ultrafast deexcitation. Other deexcitation mechanisms involving nonradiative decay and quasimolecular orbital formation during the impact are not important, as follows from the comparison of our experimental data with the results of first-principles calculations. Our method also enables the estimation of ICD rates directly.

Time-Resolved Measurement of Interatomic Coulombic Decay Induced by Two-Photon Double Excitation of Ne_{2}

The hitherto unexplored two-photon doubly excited states [Ne^{*}(2p^{-1}3s)]_{2} were experimentally identified using the seeded, fully coherent, intense extreme ultraviolet free-electron laser FERMI. These states undergo ultrafast interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD), which predominantly produces singly ionized dimers. In order to obtain the rate of ICD, the resulting yield of Ne_{2}^{+} ions was recorded as a function of delay between the extreme ultraviolet pump and UV probe laser pulses. The extracted lifetimes of the long-lived doubly excited states, 390(-130/+450)  fs, and of the short-lived ones, less than 150 fs, are in good agreement with ab initio quantum mechanical calculations.

Correlated electronic decay in expanding clusters triggered by intense XUV pulses from a Free-Electron-Laser

Irradiation of nanoscale clusters and large molecules with intense laser pulses transforms them into highly-excited non- equilibrium states. The dynamics of intense laser-cluster interaction is encoded in electron kinetic energy spectra, which contain signatures of direct photoelectron emission as well as emission of thermalized nanoplasma electrons. In this work we report on a so far not observed spectrally narrow bound state signature in the electron kinetic energy spectra from mixed Xe core - Ar shell clusters ionized by intense extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses from a free-electron-laser. This signature is attributed to the correlated electronic decay (CED) process, in which an excited atom relaxes and the excess energy is used to ionize the same or another excited atom or a nanoplasma electron. By applying the terahertz field streaking principle we demonstrate that CED-electrons are emitted at least a few picoseconds after the ionizing XUV pulse has ended. Following the recent finding of CED in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared laser pulses, our observation of CED in the XUV range suggests that this process is of general relevance for the relaxation dynamics in laser produced nanoplasmas.

Slow Interatomic Coulombic Decay of Multiply Excited Neon Clusters

Ne clusters (∼5000  atoms) were resonantly excited (2p→3s) by intense free electron laser (FEL) radiation at FERMI. Such multiply excited clusters can decay nonradiatively via energy exchange between at least two neighboring excited atoms. Benefiting from the precise tunability and narrow bandwidth of seeded FEL radiation, specific sites of the Ne clusters were probed. We found that the relaxation of cluster surface atoms proceeds via a sequence of interatomic or intermolecular Coulombic decay (ICD) processes while ICD of bulk atoms is additionally affected by the surrounding excited medium via inelastic electron scattering. For both cases, cluster excitations relax to atomic states prior to ICD, showing that this kind of ICD is rather slow (picosecond range). Controlling the average number of excitations per cluster via the FEL intensity allows a coarse tuning of the ICD rate.

Electron impact ionization and multiphoton ionization of doped superfluid helium droplets: A comparison

We compare characteristics of electron impact ionization (EI) and multiphoton ionization (MPI) of doped superfluid helium droplets using the same droplet source. Selected dopant ion fragments from the two ionization schemes demonstrate different dependence on the doping pressure, which could be attributed to the different ionization mechanisms. While EI directly ionizes helium atoms in a droplet therefore has higher yields for bigger droplets (within a limited size range), MPI is insensitive to the helium in a droplet and is only dependent on the number of dopant molecules. The optimal timing of the ionization pulse also varies with the doping pressure, implying a velocity slip among different sized droplets. Calculations of the doping statistics and ionization probabilities qualitatively agree with the experimental data. Our results offer a word of caution in interpreting the pressure and timing dependence of superfluid helium droplets, and we also devise a scheme in achieving a high degree of doping while limiting the contribution of dopant clusters.

Interatomic Coulombic decay cascades in multiply excited neon clusters

In high-intensity laser light, matter can be ionized by direct multiphoton absorption even at photon energies below the ionization threshold. However on tuning the laser to the lowest resonant transition, the system becomes multiply excited, and more efficient, indirect ionization pathways become operative. These mechanisms are known as interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD), where one of the species de-excites to its ground state, transferring its energy to ionize another excited species. Here we show that on tuning to a higher resonant transition, a previously unknown type of interatomic Coulombic decay, intra-Rydberg ICD occurs. In it, de-excitation of an atom to a close-lying Rydberg state leads to electron emission from another neighbouring Rydberg atom. Moreover, systems multiply excited to higher Rydberg states will decay by a cascade of such processes, producing even more ions. The intra-Rydberg ICD and cascades are expected to be ubiquitous in weakly-bound systems exposed to high-intensity resonant radiation.

Interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) is a relaxation of an atom in a weakly bound environment by the transfer of excess energy to ionize the neighbouring atom. Here the authors observe intra-Rydberg ICD in neon clusters, which is a decay that involves the ionization of Rydberg atoms in the cluster.

Recombination-Enhanced Surface Expansion of Clusters in Intense Soft X-Ray Laser Pulses

We studied the nanoplasma formation and explosion dynamics of single large xenon clusters in ultrashort, intense x-ray free-electron laser pulses via ion spectroscopy. The simultaneous measurement of single-shot diffraction images enabled a single-cluster analysis that is free from any averaging over the cluster size and laser intensity distributions. The measured charge state-resolved ion energy spectra show narrow distributions with peak positions that scale linearly with final ion charge state. These two distinct signatures are attributed to highly efficient recombination that eventually leads to the dominant formation of neutral atoms in the cluster. The measured mean ion energies exceed the value expected without recombination by more than an order of magnitude, indicating that the energy release resulting from electron-ion recombination constitutes a previously unnoticed nanoplasma heating process. This conclusion is supported by results from semiclassical molecular dynamics simulations.

Observation of correlated electronic decay in expanding clusters triggered by near-infrared fields

When an excited atom is embedded into an environment, novel relaxation pathways can emerge that are absent for isolated atoms. A well-known example is interatomic Coulombic decay, where an excited atom relaxes by transferring its excess energy to another atom in the environment, leading to its ionization. Such processes have been observed in clusters ionized by extreme-ultraviolet and X-ray lasers. Here, we report on a correlated electronic decay process that occurs following nanoplasma formation and Rydberg atom generation in the ionization of clusters by intense, non-resonant infrared laser fields. Relaxation of the Rydberg states and transfer of the available electronic energy to adjacent electrons in Rydberg states or quasifree electrons in the expanding nanoplasma leaves a distinct signature in the electron kinetic energy spectrum. These so far unobserved electron-correlation-driven energy transfer processes may play a significant role in the response of any nano-scale system to intense laser light.

In clusters, relaxation of excited atoms can lead to ionization of nearby atoms, a process known as interatomic Coulomb decay. Here, the authors report on a so far unobserved correlated electronic decay process following Rydberg atom generation in clusters ionized by intense near-infrared fields.

The Low Density Matter (LDM) beamline at FERMI: optical layout and first commissioning

The Low Density Matter (LDM) beamline has been built as part of the FERMI free-electron laser (FEL) facility to serve the atomic, molecular and cluster physics community. After the commissioning phase, it received the first external users at the end of 2012. The design and characterization of the LDM photon transport system is described, detailing the optical components of the beamline.