T. Havermeier

Interatomic Coulombic Decay following Photoionization of the Helium Dimer: Observation of Vibrational Structure

Using synchrotron radiation we simultaneously ionize and excite one helium atom of a helium dimer (He2) in a shakeup process. The populated states of the dimer ion [i.e., He(*+)(n = 2, 3) - He] are found to deexcite via interatomic Coulombic decay. This leads to the emission of a second electron from the neutral site and a subsequent Coulomb explosion. In this Letter we present a measurement of the momenta of fragments that are created during this reaction. The electron energy distribution and the kinetic energy release of the two He+ ions show pronounced oscillations which we attribute to the structure of the vibrational wave function of the dimer ion.

Localization of inner-shell photoelectron emission and interatomic Coulombic decay in Ne2

We used cold target recoil ion momentum spectroscopy (COLTRIMS) to investigate the decay of Ne2 after K-shell photoionization. The breakup into Ne1+/Ne2+ shows interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) occurring after a preceding atomic Auger decay. The molecular frame angular distributions of the photoelectron and the ICD electron show distinct, asymmetric features, which imply localization of the K-vacancy created at one of the two atomic sites of the Ne2 and an emission of the ICD electron from a localized site. The experimental results are supported by calculations in the frozen core Hartree–Fock approach.

Fragmentation pathways for selected electronic states of the acetylene dication

Coincident measurement of the Auger electron and fragment ion momenta emitted after carbon core-level photoionization of acetylene has yielded new understanding of how the dication fragments. Ab initio calculations and experimental data, including body-frame Auger angular distributions, are used to identify the parent electronic states and together yield a comprehensive map of the dissociation pathways which include surface crossings and barriers to direct dissociation. The Auger angular distributions for certain breakup channels show evidence of core–hole localization. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

Imaging of the Structure of the Argon and Neon Dimer, Trimer, and Tetramer

We Coulomb explode argon and neon dimers, trimers, and tetramers by multiple ionization in an ultrashort 800 nm laser pulse. By measuring all momentum vectors of the singly charged ions in coincidence, we determine the ground state nuclear wave function of the dimer, trimer, and tetramer. Furthermore we retrieve the bond angles of the trimer in position space by applying a classical numerical simulation. For the argon and neon trimer, we find a structure close to the equilateral triangle. The width of the distribution around the equilateral triangle is considerably wider for neon than for argon.

Single Photon Double Ionization of the Helium Dimer

We show that a single photon can ionize the two helium atoms of the helium dimer in a distance up to 10 A. The energy sharing among the electrons, the angular distributions of the ions and electrons, as well as comparison with electron impact data for helium atoms suggest a knockoff type double ionization process. The Coulomb explosion imaging of He2 provides a direct view of the nuclear wave function of this by far most extended and most diffuse of all naturally existing molecules.

Imaging the Temporal Evolution of Molecular Orbitals during Ultrafast Dissociation

We investigate the temporal evolution of molecular frame angular distributions of Auger electrons emitted during ultrafast dissociation of HCl following a resonant single-photon excitation. The electron emission pattern changes its shape from that of a molecular σ orbital to that of an atomic p state as the system evolves from a molecule into two separated atoms.

Momentum spectrometer for electron-electron coincidence studies on superconductors

We present a new experimental setup to study electron-electron coincidences from superconducting surfaces. In our approach, electrons emitted from a surface are projected onto a time- and position-sensitive microchannel plate detector with delayline position readout. Electrons that are emitted within 2 π solid angle with respect to the surface are detected in coincidence. The detector used is a hexagonal delayline detector with enhanced multiple hit capabilities. It is read out with a Flash analog-to-digital converter. The three-dimensional momentum vector is obtained for each electron. The intrinsic dead time of the detector has been greatly reduced by implementing a new algorithm for pulse analysis. The sample holder has been matched to fit the spectrometer while being capable of cooling down the sample to 4.5 K during the measurement and heating it up to 420 K for the cleaning procedure.

Electron emission from H 2 + in strong laser fields

M. Odenweller,1 J. Lower,1 K. Pahl,1 M. Schütt,1 J. Wu,2 K. Cole,1 A. Vredenborg,1 L. Ph. Schmidt,1 N. Neumann,1 J. Titze,1 T. Jahnke,1 M. Meckel,1 M. Kunitski,1 T. Havermeier,1 S. Voss,1 M. Schöffler,1 H. Sann,1 J. Voigtsberger,1 H. Schmidt-Böcking,1 and R. Dörner1,* 1Institut für Kernphysik, J. W. Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue-Strasse1, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany 2State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China (Received 29 November 2013; published 31 January 2014)

Localization of inner shell photoelectron emission and interatomic Coulombic decay in neon dimers

By using the COLd Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectroscopy (COLTRIMS) we have investigated the 1s photoionization of neon dimers. Interatomic Coulombic Decay (ICD) takes place in the asymmetric charge breakup Ne2+/Ne1+. This breakup is used to determine whether the inner shell vacancies, resulting out of the photoionization of the dimer, and the valence shell vacancies, resulting out of the ICD, are localized at one of the atoms or delocalized over the two equivalent sites of the neon dimer.

Electron Diffraction Self-Imaging of Molecular Fragmentation in Two-Step Double Ionization of Water

We doubly ionize H(2)O by single photon absorption at 43 eV leading to H(+) + OH(+). A direct double ionization and a sequential process in which single ionization is followed by rapid dissociation into a proton and an autoionizing OH(*) are identified. The angular distribution of this delayed autoionization electron shows a preferred emission in the direction of the emitted proton. From this diffraction feature we obtain internuclear distances of 700 to 1100 a.u. at which the autoionization of the OH(*) occurs. The experimental findings are in line with calculations of the excited potential energy surfaces and their lifetimes.