Probing Attosecond Electron Coherence in Molecular Charge Migration by Ultrafast X-Ray Photoelectron Imaging

Electron coherence is a fundamental quantum phenomenon in today&#8217;s ultrafast physics and chemistry research. Based on attosecond pump&#8211;probe schemes, ultrafast X-ray photoelectron imaging of molecules was used to monitor the coherent electron dynamics which is created by an XUV pulse. We performed simulations on the molecular ion H<inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <msubsup> <mrow></mrow> <mn>2</mn> <mo>+</mo> </msubsup> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> by numerically solving time-dependent Schr&#246;dinger equations. It was found that the X-ray photoelectron angular and momentum distributions depend on the time delay between the XUV pump and soft X-ray probe pulses. Varying the polarization and helicity of the soft X-ray probe pulse gave rise to a modulation of the time-resolved photoelectron distributions. The present results provide a new approach for exploring ultrafast coherent electron dynamics and charge migration in reactions of molecules on the attosecond time scale.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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