Photoionization experiments with the ultrafast EUV laser 'FLASH' - free electron laser in Hamburg
Costello, John T.ORCID: 0000-0003-4677-9999
(2007)
Photoionization experiments with the ultrafast EUV laser 'FLASH' - free electron laser in Hamburg.
Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 88
.
ISSN 1742-6596
The advent of mirror-less Free Electron Lasers emitting polarised and coherent 'laser-like' beams of high peak (> 1GW) and average (up to 100mW) powers in the extreme-UV (EUV) and X-ray bands of the electromagnetic spectrum heralds a new era in the study of the photoelectric effect. The unprecedented photon flux (~1013 photons per pulse) opens up to scrutiny processes with cross sections considered hitherto unfeasibly small to probe with conventional EUV sources such as synchrotrons and laser plasmas. The peak intensity of the focussed pulse train (<1013 W/cm2), combined with the high photon energy, ports non-linear optics and spectroscopy into a regime where inner shell electrons can become the predominant mediator of the photon matter interaction. Few photon, few electron photoionization processes are made amenable to study for the first time and the wavelength tunability of the FEL permits resonances to come into play. In combination with ultrafast optical lasers, pump-probe experiments on atoms and molecules where both fields are of comparable high intensity but orders of magnitude different in photon energy become possible. In mid 2005 the 2nd phase of the Free Electron Laser project at DESY, Hamburg (FLASH) opened to users. In what follows I will attempt to illustrate at least some of the impressive progress that has been made by very brief descriptions of just a few of the pathfinder experiments that the growing Atomic and Molecular physics community at FLASH has undertaken in the intervening two years.