Project Details
Projekt
Phase locked bichromatic polarization tailored femtosecond laser fields to study and control electron dynamics in chiral molecules.
Applicant
Professor Dr. Thomas Baumert
Subject Area
Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
Term
from 2015 to 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 281051436
Photoelectron Circular Dichroism (PECD) is a CD effect based on an electric dipole transition being large in comparison to ordinary CD effects. Recently we have measured a PECD up to the ten percent regime in a 2+1 resonance enhanced multi photon ionization (REMPI) scheme with femtosecond laser pulses on randomly oriented molecules of Camphor, Fenchone and Norcamphor in the gas phase at an excitation wavelength of 400 nm. We observed contributions from higher order Legendre polynomials up to two times the number of photons absorbed. Different modulations and amplitudes of the contributing Legendre polynomials are observed despite the similarity in chemical structure and absorption spectrum. Our intensity studies revealed dissociative ionization as the origin of the PECD effect and ionization of the intermediate resonance is dominating the signal. So far there is a lack of a consistent theoretical description of the PECD in the multiphoton case and the role of the intermediate is theoretically unclear. Progress is expected as several theoretical groups are currently working on this topic. Here we propose to put PECD measurements to a new level and use phase locked bichromatic (400 nm / 800 nm) polarization tailored femtosecond laser fields to study and control electron dynamics in chiral molecules, where the above mentioned bicyclic ketones serve as prototypes. The experiments are directed to study the influence of the photons angular momentum on resonances and continuum states and to study PECD in unusual polarization fields. A systematic study using bichromatic polarization tailored laser fields on the ionization dynamics in general has not been performed so far. This is partly due to the lack of a proper optical set-up to create these tailored light fields. One of the objectives of this proposal is therefore the implementation and characterization of a phase locked bichromatic bipolarization set-up with independent selectable polarization states and intensities for the two radiation fields as well as allowing for phase stable tuning from the optical interference regime (temporal overlap of the two radiation fields) to the pure quantum interference regime (temporally separated pulses) and a pump-probe regime with attenuated pulses. Besides a test of the set-up on achiral potassium atoms, we will for the first time apply such fields to ionize randomly oriented chiral molecules. The three dimensional momentum distribution can be inferred from tomographic reconstruction techniques developed recently in our laboratories. Amongst a whole variety of different physical topics, we expect promising results from two specific approaches: We will investigate to what extent the PECD effect can be increased using laser prepared nonisotropic distributions. We will study PECD in unusual polarization fields like for example 'cloverleaf' or 'butterfly' shapes, where the latter might open a route to create a PECD effect within one polarization field.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Co-Investigator
Dr. Arne Senftleben
