Nonlinear reversal of photo-excitation on the attosecond time scale improves ultrafast x-ray diffraction images

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ulmer, Anatoli, Ho, Phay J., Langbehn, Bruno, Kuschel, Stephan, Hecht, Linos, Obaid, Razib, Dold, Simon, Driver, Taran, Duris, Joseph, Lin, Ming-Fu, Cesar, David, Franz, Paris, Guo, Zhaoheng, Hart, Philip A., Kamalov, Andrei, Larsen, Kirk A., Li, Xiang, Meyer, Michael, Nakahara, Kazutaka, Radloff, Robert G., Robles, River, Rönnebeck, Lara, Sudar, Nick, Summers, Adam M., Young, Linda, Walter, Peter, Cryan, James, Bostedt, Christoph, Rupp, Daniela, Marinelli, Agostino, Gorkhover, Tais
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ulmer, Anatoli
Ho, Phay J.
Langbehn, Bruno
Kuschel, Stephan
Hecht, Linos
Obaid, Razib
Dold, Simon
Driver, Taran
Duris, Joseph
Lin, Ming-Fu
Cesar, David
Franz, Paris
Guo, Zhaoheng
Hart, Philip A.
Kamalov, Andrei
Larsen, Kirk A.
Li, Xiang
Meyer, Michael
Nakahara, Kazutaka
Radloff, Robert G.
Robles, River
Rönnebeck, Lara
Sudar, Nick
Summers, Adam M.
Young, Linda
Walter, Peter
Cryan, James
Bostedt, Christoph
Rupp, Daniela
Marinelli, Agostino
Gorkhover, Tais
author_facet Ulmer, Anatoli
Ho, Phay J.
Langbehn, Bruno
Kuschel, Stephan
Hecht, Linos
Obaid, Razib
Dold, Simon
Driver, Taran
Duris, Joseph
Lin, Ming-Fu
Cesar, David
Franz, Paris
Guo, Zhaoheng
Hart, Philip A.
Kamalov, Andrei
Larsen, Kirk A.
Li, Xiang
Meyer, Michael
Nakahara, Kazutaka
Radloff, Robert G.
Robles, River
Rönnebeck, Lara
Sudar, Nick
Summers, Adam M.
Young, Linda
Walter, Peter
Cryan, James
Bostedt, Christoph
Rupp, Daniela
Marinelli, Agostino
Gorkhover, Tais
contents The advent of isolated and intense sub-femtosecond X-ray pulses enables tracking of quantummechanical motion of electrons in molecules and solids. The combination of X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction imaging is a powerful approach to visualize non-equilibrium dynamics in systems beyond few atoms. However, extreme x-ray intensities introduce significant electronic damage, limiting material contrast and spatial resolution. Here we show that newly available intense subfemtosecond (sub-fs) x-ray FEL pulses can outrun most ionization cascades and partially reverse x-ray damage through stimulated x-ray emission in the vicinity of a resonance. In our experiment, we compared thousands of coherent x-ray diffraction patterns and simultaneously recorded ion spectra from individual Ne nanoparticles injected into the FEL focus. Our experimental results and theoretical modeling reveal that x-ray diffraction increases and the average charge state decreases in particles exposed to sub-fs pulses compared to those illuminated with 15-femtosecond pulses. Sub-fs exposures outrun most Auger decays and impact ionization processes, and enhance nonlinear effects such as stimulated emission, which cycle bound electrons between different states. These findings demonstrate that intense sub-fs x-ray FEL pulses are transformative for advancing high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy in chemical and material sciences, and open the possibilities of coherent control of the interaction between x-rays and complex specimen beyond few atoms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_19394
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nonlinear reversal of photo-excitation on the attosecond time scale improves ultrafast x-ray diffraction images
Ulmer, Anatoli
Ho, Phay J.
Langbehn, Bruno
Kuschel, Stephan
Hecht, Linos
Obaid, Razib
Dold, Simon
Driver, Taran
Duris, Joseph
Lin, Ming-Fu
Cesar, David
Franz, Paris
Guo, Zhaoheng
Hart, Philip A.
Kamalov, Andrei
Larsen, Kirk A.
Li, Xiang
Meyer, Michael
Nakahara, Kazutaka
Radloff, Robert G.
Robles, River
Rönnebeck, Lara
Sudar, Nick
Summers, Adam M.
Young, Linda
Walter, Peter
Cryan, James
Bostedt, Christoph
Rupp, Daniela
Marinelli, Agostino
Gorkhover, Tais
Optics
The advent of isolated and intense sub-femtosecond X-ray pulses enables tracking of quantummechanical motion of electrons in molecules and solids. The combination of X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction imaging is a powerful approach to visualize non-equilibrium dynamics in systems beyond few atoms. However, extreme x-ray intensities introduce significant electronic damage, limiting material contrast and spatial resolution. Here we show that newly available intense subfemtosecond (sub-fs) x-ray FEL pulses can outrun most ionization cascades and partially reverse x-ray damage through stimulated x-ray emission in the vicinity of a resonance. In our experiment, we compared thousands of coherent x-ray diffraction patterns and simultaneously recorded ion spectra from individual Ne nanoparticles injected into the FEL focus. Our experimental results and theoretical modeling reveal that x-ray diffraction increases and the average charge state decreases in particles exposed to sub-fs pulses compared to those illuminated with 15-femtosecond pulses. Sub-fs exposures outrun most Auger decays and impact ionization processes, and enhance nonlinear effects such as stimulated emission, which cycle bound electrons between different states. These findings demonstrate that intense sub-fs x-ray FEL pulses are transformative for advancing high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy in chemical and material sciences, and open the possibilities of coherent control of the interaction between x-rays and complex specimen beyond few atoms.
title Nonlinear reversal of photo-excitation on the attosecond time scale improves ultrafast x-ray diffraction images
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19394