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Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium

Laser-assisted electron scattering (LAES), a light–matter interaction process that facilitates energy transfer between strong light fields and free electrons, has so far been observed only in gas phase. Here we report on the observation of LAES at condensed phase particle densities, for which we cre...

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Autores principales: Treiber, Leonhard, Thaler, Bernhard, Heim, Pascal, Stadlhofer, Michael, Kanya, Reika, Kitzler-Zeiler, Markus, Koch, Markus
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8270992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34244517
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24479-w
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author Treiber, Leonhard
Thaler, Bernhard
Heim, Pascal
Stadlhofer, Michael
Kanya, Reika
Kitzler-Zeiler, Markus
Koch, Markus
author_facet Treiber, Leonhard
Thaler, Bernhard
Heim, Pascal
Stadlhofer, Michael
Kanya, Reika
Kitzler-Zeiler, Markus
Koch, Markus
author_sort Treiber, Leonhard
collection PubMed
description Laser-assisted electron scattering (LAES), a light–matter interaction process that facilitates energy transfer between strong light fields and free electrons, has so far been observed only in gas phase. Here we report on the observation of LAES at condensed phase particle densities, for which we create nano-structured systems consisting of a single atom or molecule surrounded by a superfluid He shell of variable thickness (32–340 Å). We observe that free electrons, generated by femtosecond strong-field ionization of the core particle, can gain several tens of photon energies due to multiple LAES processes within the liquid He shell. Supported by Monte Carlo 3D LAES and elastic scattering simulations, these results provide the first insight into the interplay of LAES energy gain/loss and dissipative electron movement in a liquid. Condensed-phase LAES creates new possibilities for space-time studies of solids and for real-time tracing of free electrons in liquids.
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spelling pubmed-82709922021-07-23 Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium Treiber, Leonhard Thaler, Bernhard Heim, Pascal Stadlhofer, Michael Kanya, Reika Kitzler-Zeiler, Markus Koch, Markus Nat Commun Article Laser-assisted electron scattering (LAES), a light–matter interaction process that facilitates energy transfer between strong light fields and free electrons, has so far been observed only in gas phase. Here we report on the observation of LAES at condensed phase particle densities, for which we create nano-structured systems consisting of a single atom or molecule surrounded by a superfluid He shell of variable thickness (32–340 Å). We observe that free electrons, generated by femtosecond strong-field ionization of the core particle, can gain several tens of photon energies due to multiple LAES processes within the liquid He shell. Supported by Monte Carlo 3D LAES and elastic scattering simulations, these results provide the first insight into the interplay of LAES energy gain/loss and dissipative electron movement in a liquid. Condensed-phase LAES creates new possibilities for space-time studies of solids and for real-time tracing of free electrons in liquids. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-07-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8270992/ /pubmed/34244517 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24479-w Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Treiber, Leonhard
Thaler, Bernhard
Heim, Pascal
Stadlhofer, Michael
Kanya, Reika
Kitzler-Zeiler, Markus
Koch, Markus
Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
title Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
title_full Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
title_fullStr Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
title_full_unstemmed Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
title_short Observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
title_sort observation of laser-assisted electron scattering in superfluid helium
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8270992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34244517
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24479-w
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