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Chirvi K, Biegert J. Laser-induced electron diffraction: Imaging of a single gas-phase molecular structure with one of its own electrons. STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS (MELVILLE, N.Y.) 2024; 11:041301. [PMID: 39221452 PMCID: PMC11365610 DOI: 10.1063/4.0000237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Among the many methods to image molecular structure, laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) can image a single gas-phase molecule by locating all of a molecule's atoms in space and time. The method is based on attosecond electron recollision driven by a laser field and can reach attosecond temporal resolution. Implementation with a mid-IR laser and cold-target recoil ion-momentum spectroscopy, single molecules are measured with picometer resolution due to the keV electron impact energy without ensemble averaging or the need for molecular orientation. Nowadays, the method has evolved to detect single complex and chiral molecular structures in 3D. The review will touch on the various methods to discuss the implementations of LIED toward single-molecule imaging and complement the discussions with noteworthy experimental findings in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- K. Chirvi
- ICFO—Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
| | - J. Biegert
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed:
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Quan W, Hao X, Chen Y, Yu S, Xu S, Wang Y, Sun R, Lai X, Wu C, Gong Q, He X, Liu X, Chen J. Long-Range Coulomb Effect in Intense Laser-Driven Photoelectron Dynamics. Sci Rep 2016; 6:27108. [PMID: 27256904 PMCID: PMC4891819 DOI: 10.1038/srep27108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2015] [Accepted: 05/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In strong field atomic physics community, long-range Coulomb interaction has for a long time been overlooked and its significant role in intense laser-driven photoelectron dynamics eluded experimental observations. Here we report an experimental investigation of the effect of long-range Coulomb potential on the dynamics of near-zero-momentum photoelectrons produced in photo-ionization process of noble gas atoms in intense midinfrared laser pulses. By exploring the dependence of photoelectron distributions near zero momentum on laser intensity and wavelength, we unambiguously demonstrate that the long-range tail of the Coulomb potential (i.e., up to several hundreds atomic units) plays an important role in determining the photoelectron dynamics after the pulse ends.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Quan
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - XiaoLei Hao
- Institute of Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics, Shanxi University, 030006 Taiyuan, China
| | - YongJu Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.,School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
| | - ShaoGang Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.,School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
| | - SongPo Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.,School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
| | - YanLan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.,School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
| | - RenPing Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China.,School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
| | - XuanYang Lai
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - ChengYin Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Department of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China
| | - QiHuang Gong
- State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Department of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China
| | - XianTu He
- HEDPS, Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA, Peking University, Beijing 100084, China.,Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, P. O. Box 8009, Beijing 100088, China
| | - XiaoJun Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics and Center for Cold Atom Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
| | - Jing Chen
- HEDPS, Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA, Peking University, Beijing 100084, China.,Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, P. O. Box 8009, Beijing 100088, China
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Chen L, Huang C, Zhu X, Lan P, Lu P. Molecular photoelectron holography by an attosecond XUV pulse in a strong infrared laser field. OPTICS EXPRESS 2014; 22:20421-20431. [PMID: 25321249 DOI: 10.1364/oe.22.020421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
We have investigated the photoelectron spectra from ionization of diatomic molecules by an attosecond XUV pulse in a strong infrared laser field by quantum calculations. A clear holographic interference structure is observed in the two-dimensional photoelectron momentum spectrum. Moreover, this holographic structure depends sensitively on the electron orbitals and internuclear distance of diatomic molecules. Based on the orbital dependence of the holographic structure, one can identify the symmetries and electron density distributions of molecular orbitals. This indicates that the photoelectron holography by an attosecond XUV pulse in a strong infrared field can be used as an efficient tool for molecular imaging.
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Dura J, Camus N, Thai A, Britz A, Hemmer M, Baudisch M, Senftleben A, Schröter CD, Ullrich J, Moshammer R, Biegert J. Ionization with low-frequency fields in the tunneling regime. Sci Rep 2013; 3:2675. [PMID: 24043222 PMCID: PMC3775091 DOI: 10.1038/srep02675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2013] [Accepted: 08/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Strong-field ionisation surprises with richness beyond current understanding despite decade long investigations. Ionisation with mid-IR light has promptly revealed unexpected kinetic energy structures that seem related to unanticipated quantum trajectories of the electrons. We measure first 3D momentum distributions in the deep tunneling regime (γ = 0.3) and observe surprising new electron dynamics of near-zero momentum electrons and extremely low momentum structures, below the eV, despite very high quiver energies of 95 eV. Such level of high-precision measurements at only 1 meV above the threshold, despite 5 orders higher ponderomotive energies, has now become possible with a specifically developed ultrafast mid-IR light source in combination with a reaction microscope, thereby permitting a new level of investigations into mid-IR recollision physics.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Dura
- ICFO-Institut de Ciences Fotoniques, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
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Wu J, Meckel M, Voss S, Sann H, Kunitski M, Schmidt LPH, Czasch A, Kim H, Jahnke T, Dörner R. Coulomb asymmetry in strong field multielectron ionization of diatomic molecules. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2012; 108:043002. [PMID: 22400834 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.108.043002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
We measure the angular distribution of an electron emitted by a strong elliptically polarized two-color laser field from exploding doubly charged molecular nitrogen. This angular distribution is vastly different for emission of the electron from the up-field core of the molecule as compared to that from the down-field core. The emission from the down-field core leads to a slight rotation with respect to the internuclear axis in the direction expected by the Coulomb effect of the remaining ion, while, for the emission from the up-field core, this direction is inversed. Our semiclassical simulations suggest that this unexpected angular distribution is caused by an initial longitudinal momentum of the electron freed by over-the-barrier ionization above the inner barrier in the molecule. The initial kinetic energy is in the range of the potential energy of the Stark-shifted orbital above the barrier.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Wu
- Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany
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Zhu X, Zhang Q, Hong W, Lu P, Xu Z. Molecular orbital imaging via above-threshold ionization with circularly polarized pulses. OPTICS EXPRESS 2011; 19:13722-13731. [PMID: 21934732 DOI: 10.1364/oe.19.013722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Above-threshold ionization (ATI) for aligned or orientated linear molecules by circularly polarized laser pulsed is investigated. It is found that the all-round structural information of the molecular orbital is extracted with only one shot by the circularly polarized probe pulse rather than with multi-shot detections in a linearly polarized case. The obtained photoelectron momentum spectrum directly depicts the symmetry and electron distribution of the occupied molecular orbital, which results from the strong sensitivity of the ionization probability to these structural features. Our investigation indicates that the circularly polarized probe scheme would present a simple method to study the angle-dependent ionization and image the occupied electronic orbital.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaosong Zhu
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
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Liu C, Hatsagortsyan KZ. Origin of unexpected low energy structure in photoelectron spectra induced by midinfrared strong laser fields. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2010; 105:113003. [PMID: 20867569 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.105.113003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2010] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Using a semiclassical model which incorporates tunneling and Coulomb field effects, the origin of the low-energy structure (LES) in the above-threshold ionization spectrum observed in recent experiments [Blaga, Nature Phys. 5, 335 (2009); Quan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 093001 (2009).] is identified. We show that the LES arises due to an interplay between multiple forward scattering of an ionized electron and the electron momentum disturbance by the Coulomb field immediately after the ionization. The multiple forward scattering is mainly responsible for the appearance of LES, while the initial disturbance mainly determines the position of the LES peaks. The scaling laws for the LES parameters, such as the contrast ratio and the maximal energy, versus the laser intensity and wavelength are deduced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengpu Liu
- Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
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