Related papers: Strongly aligned and oriented molecular samples at…
We show that coherently driven atomic or molecular media potentially yield strong controllable short pulses of THz radiation. The method is based on excitation of maximal quantum coherence in a gas medium by optical pulses and coherent…
Laser-driven proton sources have long been developed with an eye on their potential for medical application to radiation therapy. These sources are compact, versatile, and show peculiar characteristics such as extreme instantaneous dose…
We present a novel laser based ion acceleration scheme, where a petawatt circularly polarized laser pulse is shot on an ultra-thin (nano-scale) double-layer target. Our scheme allows the production of high-quality light ion beams with both…
We demonstrate experimentally a quantum memory scheme for the storage of weak coherent light pulses in an inhomogeneously broadened optical transition in a Pr^{3+}: YSO crystal at 2.1 K. Precise optical pumping using a frequency stable…
A beam of diatomic molecules scattered off a standing wave laser mode splits according to the rovibrational quantum state of the molecules. Our numerical calculation shows that single state resolution can be achieved by properly tuned,…
Trapped ions are a well-studied and promising system for the realization of a scalable quantum computer. Faster quantum gates would greatly improve the applicability of such a system and allow for greater flexibility in the number of…
We report experimental results on x-ray diffraction of quantum-state-selected and strongly aligned ensembles of the prototypical asymmetric rotor molecule 2,5-diiodobenzonitrile using the Linac Coherent Light Source. The experiments…
Liquid crystal films have recently been demonstrated as variable thickness, planar targets for ultra-intense laser matter experiments and applications such as ion acceleration. By controlling the parameters of film formation, including…
Ultrafast laser excitation can create coherent superpositions of electronic states in molecules and trigger ultrafast flow of electron density on few- to sub-femtosecond time scales. While recent attosecond experiments have addressed…
We present a new method for the generation of rotationally and vibrationally state-selected, translationally cold molecular ions in ion traps. Our technique is based on the state-selective threshold photoionization of neutral molecules…
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on strong-field ionization of a three-dimensionally oriented asymmetric top molecule, benzonitrile (C$_7$H$_5$N), by circularly polarized, nonresonant femtosecond laser pulses. Prior…
In quantum systems, coherent superpositions of electronic states evolve on ultrafast timescales (few femtosecond to attosecond, 1 as = 0.001 fs = 10^{-18} s), leading to a time dependent charge density. Here we exploit the first attosecond…
Quantum mechanical phenomena, such as electronic coherence and entanglement, play a key role in achieving the unrivalled efficiencies of light-energy conversion in natural photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes, and triggered the growing…
Fixing molecules in space is a crucial step for the imaging of molecular structure and dynamics. Here, we demonstrate three-dimensional (3D) field-free alignment of the prototypical asymmetric top molecule indole using elliptically…
We investigate to which extend a THz laser pulse can be used to produce field-free molecular orientation at high temperature. We consider laser pulses that can be implemented with the state of the art technology and we show that the…
Due to the necessity of making a series of random adjustments after mode-locking in most experiments for preparing soliton molecules, the repeatability of the preparations remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a novel…
We report on a reliable laser system for cooling magnesium atoms in the metastable 3P manifold. The three relevant transitions coupling the 3P to the 3D manifold are near 383 nm and seperated by several hundred GHz. The laser system…
The field-free alignment and orientation of the linear molecule by the two-color trapezoidal laser pulses were theoretically investigated. The trapezoidal shape of a laser pulse allows to enhance the maximum alignment degree for the same…
Numerous techniques have been demonstrated for effective generation of orbital angular momentum-carrying radiation, but intracavity generation of continuously tunable pulses in the femtosecond regime remains challenging. Even if such a…
The advent of high-average-power, ultrafast ytterbium-based lasers allows us to generate laser filaments at repetition rates ranging from 10s of kHz up to 100s of kHz. At such high repetition rates, the inter-pulse time lies below the time…