an-experimental-protocol-for-femtosecond-niruv-xuv-pump-probe

An Experimental Protocol for Femtosecond NIR/UV - XUV Pump-Probe Experiments with Free-Electron Lasers

This protocol describes key steps in performing and analyzing femtosecond pump-probe experiments that combine a femtosecond optical laser with a ...

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

The application of a novel fast optical-imaging camera, TimepixCam, to molecular photoionization experiments using the velocity-map imaging technique at a free-electron laser is described. TimepixCam is a 256 × 256 pixel CMOS camera that is able to detect and time-stamp ion hits with 20 ns timing resolution, thus making it possible to record ion momentum images for all fragment ions simultaneously and avoiding the need to gate the detector on a single fragment. This allows the recording of significantly more data within a given amount of beam time and is particularly useful for pump-probe experiments, where drifts, for example, in the timing and pulse energy of the free-electron laser, severely limit the comparability of pump-probe scans for different fragments taken consecutively. In principle, this also allows ion-ion covariance or coincidence techniques to be applied to determine angular correlations between fragments.

Time-resolved ion imaging at free-electron lasers using TimepixCam.

Rydberg excitations in the vacuum ultraviolet spectral range may open up molecular photoreaction pathways not accessible from lower-lying valence states. Here, single-shot UV/VUV pump-probe spectroscopy was used to study the photodissociation dynamics of iodomethane after 268 nm excitation in the A-band and excitation of the 6p ( E) Rydberg state at 161 nm. By combining weak-field VUV single-photon ionization with sub-10 fs temporal resolution and the superior statistical accuracy of the single-shot technique, sub-30 fs wave packet dynamics upon excitation in the A-band by a UV pump pulse were disclosed. Population transfer from the Rydberg state to the 2  A valence state leading to 100 fs dissociation dynamics was observed by utilizing the same methodology in a VUV-pump/UV-probe scheme.

Time-Resolved Dissociation Dynamics of Iodomethane Resulting from Rydberg and Valence Excitation.

Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and X-ray free-electron lasers enable new scientific opportunities. Their ultra-intense coherent femtosecond pulses give unprecedented access to the structure of undepositable nanoscale objects and to transient states of highly excited matter. In order to probe the ultrafast complex light-induced dynamics on the relevant time scales, the multi-purpose end-station CAMP at the free-electron laser FLASH has been complemented by the novel multilayer-mirror-based split-and-delay unit DESC (DElay Stage for CAMP) for time-resolved experiments. XUV double-pulses with delays adjustable from zero femtoseconds up to 650 picoseconds are generated by reflecting under near-normal incidence, exceeding the time range accessible with existing XUV split-and-delay units. Procedures to establish temporal and spatial overlap of the two pulses in CAMP are presented, with emphasis on the optimization of the spatial overlap at long time-delays via time-dependent features, for example in ion spectra of atomic clusters.

XUV double-pulses with femtosecond to 650 ps separation from a multilayer-mirror-based split-and-delay unit at FLASH.

The non-monochromatic beamline BL1 at the FLASH free-electron laser facility at DESY was upgraded with new transport and focusing optics, and a new permanent end-station, CAMP, was installed. This multi-purpose instrument is optimized for electron- and ion-spectroscopy, imaging and pump-probe experiments at free-electron lasers. It can be equipped with various electron- and ion-spectrometers, along with large-area single-photon-counting pnCCD X-ray detectors, thus enabling a wide range of experiments from atomic, molecular, and cluster physics to material and energy science, chemistry and biology. Here, an overview of the layout, the beam transport and focusing capabilities, and the experimental possibilities of this new end-station are presented, as well as results from its commissioning.

CAMP@FLASH: an end-station for imaging, electron- and ion-spectroscopy, and pump-probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser.

Liquid microjets are a common means of delivering protein crystals to the focus of X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) for serial femtosecond crystallography measurements. The high X-ray intensity in the focus initiates an explosion of the microjet and sample. With the advent of X-ray FELs with megahertz rates, the typical velocities of these jets must be increased significantly in order to replenish the damaged material in time for the subsequent measurement with the next X-ray pulse. This work reports the results of a megahertz serial diffraction experiment at the FLASH FEL facility using 4.3 nm radiation. The operation of gas-dynamic nozzles that produce liquid microjets with velocities greater than 80 m s was demonstrated. Furthermore, this article provides optical images of X-ray-induced explosions together with Bragg diffraction from protein microcrystals exposed to trains of X-ray pulses repeating at rates of up to 4.5 MHz. The results indicate the feasibility for megahertz serial crystallography measurements with hard X-rays and give guidance for the design of such experiments.

Dimitrios Rompotis

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

An Experimental Protocol for Femtosecond NIR/UV - XUV Pump-Probe Experiments with Free-Electron Lasers