Litcius/Paper detail

Attosecond timing of electron emission from a molecular shape resonance

Saikat Nandi, Étienne Plésiat, Shiyang Zhong, Alicia Palacios, David Busto, Marcus Isinger, Lana Neoričić, Cord L. Arnold, Richard J. Squibb, R. Feifel, Piero Decleva, A. L’Huillier, Fernando Martı́n, Mathieu Gisselbrecht

2020Science Advances108 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF

Abstract

. We show that despite the nuclear motion altering the bond length by only 2%, which leads to tiny changes in the potential barrier, the corresponding change in the ionization time can be as large as 200 attoseconds. This result poses limits to the concept of instantaneous electronic transitions in molecules, which is at the basis of the Franck-Condon principle of molecular spectroscopy.

Topics & Concepts

AttosecondElectronResonance (particle physics)PhysicsAtomic physicsOpticsNuclear physicsLaserUltrashort pulseLaser-Matter Interactions and ApplicationsMass Spectrometry Techniques and ApplicationsAdvanced Chemical Physics Studies