Photoelectron angular distributions from resonant two-photon ionisation of adiabatically aligned naphthalene and aniline molecules

Photoelectron angular distributions from resonant two-photon ionisation of adiabatically aligned naphthalene and aniline molecules

Molecular Physics, Article: e1836411 | Received 03 Aug 2020, Accepted 06 Oct 2020, Published online: 22 Oct 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1080/00268976.2020.1836411

Photoelectron images have been measured following the ionisation of aligned distributions of gas phase naphthalene and aniline molecules. Alignment in the adiabatic regime was achieved by interaction with a 100 ps infrared laser pulse, with ionisation achieved in a two-photon resonant scheme using a low intensity UV pulse of ∼6 ps duration. The resulting images are found to exhibit anisotropy that increases when the alignment pulse is present, with the aniline PADs peaking along the polarisation vector of the ionising light and the naphthalene PADs developing a characteristic four-lobed structure. Photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) that result from the ionisation of unaligned and fully aligned distributions of molecules are calculated using the ePolyScat ab initio suite and converted into two-dimensional photoelectron images. In the case of naphthalene excellent agreement is observed between experiment and the simulation for the fully aligned distribution, showing that the alignment step allows us to probe the molecular frame, but in the case of aniline it is clear that additional processes occur following the one-photon resonant step.

Quantum Beat Photoelectron Imaging Spectroscopy of Xe in the VUV

Quantum Beat Photoelectron Imaging Spectroscopy of Xe in the VUV

UPDATE June 2018 – Now published in Phys. Rev. A 97, 063417, 2018, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.97.063417

… and in Kaleidoscope.

March 2018: New on arXiv

Time-resolved pump-probe measurements of Xe, pumped at 133~nm and probed at 266~nm, are presented. The pump pulse prepared a long-lived hyperfine wavepacket, in the Xe 5p5(2P1/2)6s 2[1/2]1 manifold (E=77185 cm1=9.57 eV). The wavepacket was monitored via single-photon ionization, and photoelectron images measured. The images provide angle- and time-resolved data which, when obtained over a large time-window (900~ps), constitute a precision quantum beat spectroscopy measurement of the hyperfine state splittings. Additionally, analysis of the full photoelectron image stack provides a quantum beat imaging modality, in which the Fourier components of the photoelectron images correlated with specific beat components can be obtained. This may also permit the extraction of isotope-resolved photoelectron images in the frequency domain, in cases where nuclear spins (hence beat components) can be uniquely assigned to specific isotopes (as herein), and also provides phase information. The information content of both raw, and inverted, image stacks is investigated, suggesting the utility of the Fourier analysis methodology in cases where images cannot be inverted.

Also available on Authorea.

Full data, code & analysis notes on OSF.

Quantum Metrology with Photoelectrons (book)

Quantum Metrology with Photoelectrons (book)

Update April 2018 – the books are now available via IOP, see details at end of post.

Book for IOP Concise Physics series, due early 2018

Dr. Paul Hockett

National Research Council of Canada

Online resources

OSF project (ID: q2v3g) with interactive content and additional resources, DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/Q2V3G

femtolab.ca website, posts tagged “metrology-book”

femtolab.ca website, posts tagged “video”

Abstract

Photoionization is an interferometric process, in which multiple paths can contribute to the final continuum photoelectron wavefunction. At the simplest level, interferences between different final angular momentum states are manifest in the energy and angle resolved photoelectron spectra: metrology schemes making use of these interferograms are thus phase-sensitive, and provide a powerful route to detailed understanding of photoionization. In these cases, the continuum wavefunction (and underlying scattering dynamics) can be characterised. At a more complex level, such measurements can also provide a powerful probe for other processes of interest, leading to a more general class of quantum metrology built on phase-sensitive photoelectron imaging.  Since the turn of the century, the increasing availability of photoelectron imaging experiments, along with the increasing sophistication of experimental techniques, and the availability of computational resources for analysis and numerics, has allowed for significant developments in such photoelectron metrology.

Volume I covers the core physics of photoionization, including a range of computational examples. The material is presented as both reference and tutorial, and should appeal to readers of all levels.  Volume II explores applications, and the development of quantum metrology schemes based on photoelectron measurements. The material is more technical, and will appeal more to the specialist reader.

Full text

Quantum Metrology with Photoelectrons

Volume 1
ISBN 978-1-6817-4684-5
http://iopscience.iop.org/book/978-1-6817-4684-5
Volume 2
ISBN 978-1-6817-4688-3
http://iopscience.iop.org/book/978-1-6817-4688-3

 

Bootstrapping (Ultrafast) Photoionization Dynamics – PQE 2018 (extended) video

Bootstrapping (Ultrafast) Photoionization Dynamics – PQE 2018 (extended) video

Bootstrapping (Ultrafast) Photoionization Dynamics – PQE 2018 (extended) from femtolab.ca on Vimeo.

Talk originally given as a 20min presentation at PQE 2018 (Snowbird, Utah, http://pqeconference.com/pqe2018/program). The original talk was not recorded; this is an extended version using the same slides, but with rather more introductory discussion. The abstract is given below, along with links to additional material.

More details of the work discussed in the main part of the talk can be found in:
Molecular Frame Reconstruction Using Time-Domain Photoionization Interferometry.
Marceau et. al., Physical Review Letters, 119(8), 83401 (2017).
http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.083401

PQE 2018 Abstract

Bootstrapping (Ultrafast) Photoionization Dynamics
Slot: Tuesday Morning Invited Session 1
Session: Ultrafast photoionization dynamics

Photoionization is an interferometric process, in which multiple paths can contribute to the final continuum photoelectron state. At the simplest level, interferences between different final angular momentum states are clearly manifest in the energy and angle resolved photoelectron spectra; metrology schemes making use of these interferograms are thus phase-sensitive, and provide a powerful route to detailed understanding of photoionization.

The high information content of angle-resolved interferograms, combined with geometric control over the photoionization dynamics, can provide sufficient data for reconstruction of the continuum state, in terms of the constituent partial waves and phases. This has recently been explored for a range of cases, including the use of ultrafast pump-probe schemes with a bootstrapping analysis methodology: aspects of this work will be presented.

DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.5645509

Refs
Molecular Frame Reconstruction Using Time-Domain Photoionization Interferometry
Marceau, C., Makhija, V., Platzer, D., Naumov, A. Y., Corkum, P. B., Stolow, A., Villeneuve, D. M., Hockett, P. (2017). Physical Review Letters, 119(8), 83401. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.083401

Coherent control of photoelectron wavepacket angular interferograms.
Hockett, P., Wollenhaupt, M., & Baumert, T. (2015). Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 48(21), 214004. http://doi.org/10.1088/0953-4075/48/21/214004

Complete Photoionization Experiments via Ultrafast Coherent Control with Polarization Multiplexing.
Hockett, P., Wollenhaupt, M., Lux, C., & Baumert, T. (2014). Physical Review Letters, 112(22), 223001. http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.223001

Coherent imaging of an attosecond electron wave packet.
Villeneuve, D. M., Hockett, P., Vrakking, M. J. J., & Niikura, H. (2017). Science, 356(6343), 1150–1153. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam8393