Electron population dynamics in resonant non-linear x-ray absorption in nickel at a free-electron laser

Free-electron lasers provide bright, ultrashort, and monochromatic x-ray pulses, enabling novel spectroscopic measurements not only with femtosecond temporal resolution: The high fluence of their x-ray pulses can also easily enter the regime of the non-linear x-ray-matter interaction. Entering this regime necessitates a rigorous analysis and reliable prediction of the relevant non-linear processes for future experiment designs. Here, we show non-linear changes in the L 3 -edge absorption of metallic nickel thin films, measured with fluences up to 60 J/cm2. We present a simple but predictive rate model that quantitatively describes spectral changes based on the evolution of electronic populations within the pulse duration. Despite its simplicity, the model reaches good agreement with experimental results over more than three orders of magnitude in fluence, while providing a straightforward understanding of the interplay of physical processes driving the non-linear changes. Our findings provide important insights for the design and evaluation of future high-fluence free-electron laser experiments and contribute to the understanding of non-linear electron dynamics in x-ray absorption processes in solids at the femtosecond timescale.

Photon-shot-noise-limited transient absorption soft X-ray spectroscopy at the European XFEL

Femtosecond transient soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a very promising technique that can be employed at X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) to investigate out-of-equilibrium dynamics for material and energy research. Here, a dedicated setup for soft X-rays available at the Spectroscopy and Coherent Scattering (SCS) instrument at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (European XFEL) is presented. It consists of a beam-splitting off-axis zone plate (BOZ) used in transmission to create three copies of the incoming beam, which are used to measure the transmitted intensity through the excited and unexcited sample, as well as to monitor the incoming intensity. Since these three intensity signals are detected shot by shot and simultaneously, this setup allows normalized shot-by-shot analysis of the transmission. For photon detection, an imaging detector capable of recording up to 800 images at 4.5 MHz frame rate during the FEL burst is employed, and allows a photon-shot-noise-limited sensitivity to be approached. The setup and its capabilities are reviewed as well as the online and offline analysis tools provided to users.

A full gap above the Fermi level: the charge density wave of monolayer VS2

In the standard model of charge density wave (CDW) transitions, the displacement along a single phonon mode lowers the total electronic energy by creating a gap at the Fermi level, making the CDW a metal-insulator transition. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy and ab initio calculations, we show that VS2 realizes a CDW which stands out of this standard model. There is a full CDW gap residing in the unoccupied states of monolayer VS2. At the Fermi level, the CDW induces a topological metal-metal (Lifshitz) transition. Non-linear coupling of transverse and longitudinal phonons is essential for the formation of the CDW and the full gap above the Fermi level. Additionally, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism reveals the absence of net magnetization in this phase, pointing to coexisting charge and spin density waves in the ground state.

Europium Cyclooctatetraene Nanowire Carpets: A Low-Dimensional, Organometallic, and Ferromagnetic Insulator

We investigate the magnetic and electronic properties of europium cyclooctatetraene (EuCot) nanowires by means of low-temperature X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS). The EuCot nanowires are prepared in situ on a graphene surface. STS measurements identify EuCot as an insulator with a minority band gap of 2.3 eV. By means of Eu M_5,4 edge XMCD, orbital and spin magnetic moments of (-0.1 ± 0.3)μ_B and (+7.0 ± 0.6)μ_B, respectively, were determined. Field-dependent measurements of the XMCD signal at the Eu M₅ edge show hysteresis for grazing X-ray incidence at 5 K, thus confirming EuCot as a ferromagnetic material. Our density functional theory calculations reproduce the experimentally observed minority band gap. Modeling the experimental results theoretically, we find that the effective interatomic exchange interaction between Eu atoms is on the order of millielectronvolts, that magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy is roughly half as big, and that dipolar energy is approximately ten times lower.