Correlation-driven sub-3 fs charge migration in ionised adenine
Abstract
Sudden ionisation of a relatively large molecule can initiate a correlation-driven process dubbed charge migration, where the electron density distribution is expected to rapidly change. Capturing this few-femtosecond/attosecond charge redistribution represents the real-time observation of the electron correlation in the molecule. So far, there has been no experimental evidence of this process. Here we report on a time-resolved study of the correlation-driven charge migration process occurring in the bio-relevant molecule adenine after ionisation by a 15-35 eV attosecond pulse . We find that, the production of intact doubly charged adenine - via a shortly-delayed laser-induced second ionisation event - represents the signature of a charge inflation mechanism resulting from the many-body excitation. This conclusion is supported by first-principles time-dependent simulations. Our findings opens new important perspectives for the control of the molecular reactivity at the electronic timescale.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2101.05753,
title = {Correlation-driven sub-3 fs charge migration in ionised adenine},
author = {Erik P. Mansson and Simone Latini and Fabio Covito and Vincent Wanie and Mara Galli and Enrico Perfetto and Gianluca Stefanucci and Hannes Huebener and Umberto De Giovannini and Mattea C. Castrovilli and Andrea Trabattoni and Fabio Frassetto and Luca Poletto and Jason B. Greenwood and Francois Legare and Mauro Nisoli and Angel Rubio and Francesca Calegari},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.05753},
year = {2021}
}