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Attosecond probing of photoionization dynamics from diatomic to many-atom molecules

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Abstract

The natural diversity of molecules in terms of geometries, chemical properties, work functions, among others, offers an impressive laboratory for observing fundamental electron dynamics down to the attosecond timescale. Here, we use some recent angularly resolved Wigner time delay measurements performed in our attoscience laboratory in Lyon to illustrate the electron dynamics in molecules containing a few (N\(_2\), C\(_2\)H\(_2\), and C\(_2\)H\(_4\)) to many atoms (C\(_{10}\)H\(_8\) and C\(_{10}\)H\(_{16}\)). In the few-atom case, the Wigner delay can be measured for a particular electronic state. This allows us to identify the underlying physical mechanisms governing photoionization processes, such as the well-known shape resonance in valence-ionized nitrogen molecule. Promising new experimental results using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy on ethylene show a tendency in the ionization time delay between the X and A states. As a perspective, we show that for many-atom molecules (C\(_{60}\) and C\(_{10}\)H\(_x\), with \(x=8\) or 16), the photoionization metrology can address different kinds of electron dynamics with a collective behavior.

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Data availibility statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. Lépine and E. Constant for fruitful discussions. We acknowledge the support of CNRS, ANR-16-CE30-0012 “Circé”, ANR-15-CE30-0001 “CIMBAAD”, the Fédération de recherche André Marie Ampère and the European COST Action AttoChem (CA18222) and the GDR-UP.

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  1. University of Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière, Villeurbanne, 69622, France

    Alexie Boyer, Saikat Nandi & Vincent Loriot

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  1. Alexie Boyer
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Correspondence to Vincent Loriot.

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Ultrafast Phenomena from attosecond to picosecond timescales: theory and experiments. Guest editors: Franck Lépine, Lionel Poisson.

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Boyer, A., Nandi, S. & Loriot, V. Attosecond probing of photoionization dynamics from diatomic to many-atom molecules. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 232, 2001–2009 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-022-00754-9

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