Ultrafast molecular imaging by laser-induced electron diffraction

Ultrafast Molecular Imaging by Laser Induced Electron Diffraction

Imaging ultrafast dynamics of molecules with laser-induced electron diffraction.

We introduce a laser-induced electron diffraction method (LIED) for imaging ultrafast dynamics of small molecules with femtosecond mid-infrared lasers. When molecules are placed in an intense laser field, both low- and high-energy photoelectrons are generated. According to quantitative rescattering (QRS) theory, high-energy electrons are produced by a rescattering process where electrons born a...

Laser induced electron diffraction: a tool for molecular orbital imaging

We explore the laser-induced ionization dynamics of N2 and CO2 molecules subjected to a fewcycle, linearly polarized, 800 nm laser pulse using effective two-dimensional single active electron time-dependent quantum simulations. We show that the electron recollision process taking place after an initial tunnel ionization stage results in quantum interference patterns in the energy resolved photo...

Ultrafast electron beam imaging of femtosecond laser-induced plasma dynamics

Plasma dynamics in the early stage of laser ablation of a copper target are investigated in real time by making ultrafast electron shadow images and electron deflectometry measurements. These complementary techniques provide both a global view and a local perspective of the associated transient electric field and charge expansion dynamics. The results reveal that the charge cloud above the targ...

Imaging an aligned polyatomic molecule with laser-induced electron diffraction

Laser-induced electron diffraction is an evolving tabletop method that aims to image ultrafast structural changes in gas-phase polyatomic molecules with sub-Ångström spatial and femtosecond temporal resolutions. Here we demonstrate the retrieval of multiple bond lengths from a polyatomic molecule by simultaneously measuring the C-C and C-H bond lengths in aligned acetylene. Our approach takes t...