Photon Science Seminar: Transient dipole-interactions on sub-cycle timescales

Transient dipole-interactions on sub-cycle timescales

Lorenz Drescher
Max Born Institute (Berlin)

The interactions of attosecond XUV pulses with matter offer intriguing opportunities to study electron dynamics driven by IR fields on a sub-cycle timescales. Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) is a quickly emerging method to characterize these light-induced effects. We will present a recent study of ATAS on CH3I molecules, that shows the state-resolved polarizability of core-excited states. We will discuss an analysis method to extract the polarizability and temporal behavior from ATAS and discuss the effects of molecular  symmetry on the ATAS signal.

Besides absorption, the interaction of the induced dipole with the XUV field can lead to refraction. We will present a method to measure refraction in the XUV spectral region using dense inhomogeneous gas-jets. The control over refraction in the XUV region allows to develop XUV refractive optics as is demonstrated in an XUV gas lens.