Following the evolution of ICD in time

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Ulrike Frühling
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry ; Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2012 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 203306641

For Auger decay, the lifetime of the decaying state can be inferred from the lorentzian part of the Auger lineshape. To do the same for Interatomic Coulombic Decay (ICD) is difficult, because the electron spectra are also broadened due to dissociative nuclear dynamics. Therefore our project aims to directly observe the evolution of an ICD process in the timedomain. As promising targets, van-der-Waals-clusters in the form of noble-gas dimers have been identified. Rather than following a traditional scheme, where an intermediate state is formed with a pump-pulse and subsequently depleted with a delayed probe pulse, we are pursuing an alternative approach, in which we probe the continuum electron wave packet which is produced in the relaxation by ICD. The temporal profile of this wave carries the desired temporal information about the underlying dynamics. For the experiment we want to use the extremely intense ultra-short XUV pulses from the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) and from a laboratory source together with intense terahertz (THz) pulses as a probing field. The experiment will allow a measurement of the underlying dynamics with femtosecond resolution and will also deliver information about the time dependence of the ICD-electron spectrum.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 1789: Intermolecular and Interatomic Coulombic Decay