Related papers: Strongly aligned gas-phase molecules at Free-Elect…

We demonstrate the possibility to run a single-pass free-electron laser in a new dynamical regime, which can be exploited to perform two-colour pump-probe experiments in the VUV/X-ray domain, using the free-electron laser emission both as a…

Strong quasi-adiabatic laser alignment of the indole-water-dimer clusters, an amino-acid chromophore bound to a single water molecule through a hydrogen bond, was experimentally realized. The alignment was visualized through ion and…

We present the design and implementation of a new, modular gas target suitable for high-order harmonic generation using high average power lasers. To ensure thermal stability in this high heat load environment, we implement an appropriate…

We introduce a new optical tool - a "two-dimensional optical centrifuge", capable of aligning molecules in extreme rotational states. Unlike the conventional centrifuge, which confines the molecules in the plane of their rotation, its…

In this paper, we propose a scheme to generate tunable coherent X-ray radiation for future light source applications. This scheme uses an energy chirped electron beam, a laser modulator, a laser chirper and two bunch compressors to generate…

In this work, an innovative scheme is proposed that exploits the response of magnetized plasmas to realize a refractive index exceeding unity for right circularly polarized (RCP) waves. Using two- and three-dimensional Particle-in-Cell…

This paper reports on the use of coherent microwave scattering (CMS) for spatially resolved electron number density measurements of elongated plasma structures induced at mid-IR femtosecond filamentation in air. The presented studies…

Laser-induced alignment of particles and molecules was long envisioned to support three-dimensional structure determination using "single-molecule diffraction" with x-ray free-electron lasers [PRL 92, 198102 (2004)]. However, the alignment…

Present photoionization experiments cannot measure molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPAD) from the outermost valence electrons of molecules. We show that details of the MFPAD can be retrieved with high-order harmonics…

Dimers of carbon disulfide (CS$_2$) molecules embedded in helium nanodroplets are aligned using a moderately intense, 160ps, non-resonant, circularly polarized laser pulse. It is shown that the intermolecular carbon-carbon (C-C) axis aligns…

We develop a mathematically simple yet accurate model for the single-pulse non-resonant impulsive alignment of thermal ensembles of linear molecules. We find that our molecular alignment model not only provides a simplification for…

We have studied the effects of chirped femtosecond laser pulses on the formation of ultracold molecules in a Rb magneto-optical trap. We have found that application of chirped femtosecond pulses suppressed the formation of 85Rb-2 and 87Rb-2…

We give a detailed account of the theoretical analysis and the experimental results of an x-ray-diffraction experiment on quantum-state selected and strongly laser-aligned gas-phase ensembles of the prototypical large asymmetric rotor…

High-harmonic generation is one of the most extreme nonlinear-optical processes observed to date. By focusing an intense laser pulse into a gas, the light-atom interaction that occurs during the process of ionising the atoms results in the…

Lasers capable of generating attosecond X-ray pulses in the water window (282 to 533 eV) through high-order harmonic generation are normally based on inefficient, multi-stage optical parametric amplifiers or optical parametric chirped pulse…

This work focuses on the incoherent and coherent combination of pulsed laser beams, building on previous research [1] that addressed the combination of continuous-wave laser beams. For the pulsed combination, we have focused on the temporal…

Controlling the phase space of particle beams is essential for the generation of high-quality, ultrashort electron beams in plasma-based accelerators. Accurately diagnosing the transient energy chirp, which evolves rapidly at the onset of…

We report the experimental observation of the filamentation effect in gas devices designed for X-ray Free-electron Lasers. The measurements were carried out at the Linac Coherent Light Source on the X-ray Correlation Spectroscopy (XCS)…

High-order harmonic generation in the presence of a chirped THz pulse is investigated numerically with a complete 3D non-adiabatic model. The assisting THz pulse illuminates the HHG gas cell laterally inducing quasi-phase-matching. We…

Measurements of the spatial and temporal coherence of single, femtosecond x-ray pulses generated by the first hard x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), are presented. Single shot measurements were…