Tunable isolated attosecond X-ray pulses with gigawatt peak power from a free-electron laser

By J. Duris, Siqi Li, T. Driver, E. Champenois, J. Macarthur, A. Lutman, Zhen Zhang, P. Rosenberger, Jeff W. Aldrich, R. Coffee and 25 more. Nature Photonics, 2019

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The quantum-mechanical motion of electrons in molecules and solids occurs on the sub-femtosecond timescale. Consequently, the study of ultrafast electronic phenomena requires the generation of laser pulses shorter than 1 fs and of sufficient intensity to interact with their target with high probability. Probing these dynamics with atomic-site specificity requires the extension of sub-femtosecond pulses to the soft X-ray spectral region. Here, we report the generation of isolated soft X-ray attosecond pulses with an X-ray free-electron laser. Our source has a pulse energy that is millions of times larger than any other source of isolated attosecond pulses in the soft X-ray spectral region, with a peak power exceeding 100 GW. This unique combination of high intensity, high photon energy and short pulse duration enables the investigation of electron dynamics with X-ray nonlinear spectroscopy and single-particle imaging, unlocking a path towards a new era of attosecond science. The generation of ultrashort X-ray pulses with a peak power exceeding 100 GW offers new opportunities for studying electron dynamics with nonlinear spectroscopy and single-particle imaging.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics, Radiation

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