Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 11: Interaction with VUV and X-ray light I

A 11.1: Invited Talk

Monday, March 12, 2012, 16:30–17:00, V47.03

Tracing ultrafast light-induced dynamics in small organic molecules — •Artem Rudenko — Max Planck Advanced Study Group at CFEL, Hamburg — Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg

One of the main driving forces behind the development of novel intense short-pulsed light sources is a dream to "watch" chemical reactions in real time and to define properties of the transition states. The basic idea is that one short laser pulse (the 'pump') triggers the reaction, i.e., launches molecular wave packet, which is than "filmed" at different times by a second ('probe') pulse. The availability of ultrashort light bursts in a broad range of wavelengths, from the infrared and visible to XUV and X-ray domains opens exiting new possibilities for both, initiating different types of molecular dynamics and taking snapshots of molecular structure. In this contribution several illustrative examples of all optical, XUV-XUV and two-color pump-probe experiments on small organic molecules (e.g., CH4, C2H2, C2H4 etc.) will be presented, with a focus on mapping dissociation, isomerization, and H2/H3 elimination reactions. Current status and perspectives for different probe schemes, such as Coulomb explosion imaging, photoelectron diffraction and holography will be discussed.