Multielectron wave-packet propagation for the investigation and manipulation of charge-migration processes and thereby emitted radiation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lorenz S. Cederbaum
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2006 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 21562212

In recent years, the tremendous development of laser pump-probe experimental techniques made possible a direct observation in real time of different kinds of ultrafast processes with sub-femtosecond resolution. This opened the door for investigation of processes in the attosecond/femtosecond time scale that take place before the nuclear dynamics comes to play. Thus, processes like the rearrangement of the electronic system following an excitation of an inner-shell electron can now be traced in time and space and analyzed. If the energy of the excited state is sufficiently high the system can also undergo a non- radiative decay and an outer-valence electron will escape from the atomic binding. In the same time, in order to interpret properly the experimental results, one needs precise ab initio calculations which provide the time evolution of the electronic cloud, taking into account various effects, as electronic correlation and electronic relaxation. Our project is devoted to the development of a computational methodology for multielectron wave- packet propagation giving the possibility to describe fully ab initio the dynamics of various de-excitation processes taking into account all electrons of the system. We plan to study in real time different decay processes, as well as the influence of an external laser pulse on the dynamics of the processes. The results of the proposed theoretical research will be essential for interpreting and guiding future experimental studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants