Newsletter December 2013
Dear colleagues and friends of the HI-Jena,
the year 2013 has almost passed and we look back on a very productive and successful year for the Helmholtz-Institute. With this newsletter we want to wish you and your families Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year 2014.
Kind Regards,
Helmholtz Institute Jena
High purity X-ray polarimetry applied to discover molecules and X-ray quantum optics
High purity X-ray polarimetry developed at HI-Jena by Berit Marx and Kai Sven Schulze was applied to an experiment to discover optical activity of molecules in solution in the X-ray regime at a photon energy of 12.914 keV [1]. The X-ray polarimeters used allow detection of rotations of the polarization plane down to one arc second. The performance of the polarimeters was demonstrated by detecting the optical activity of sucrose which shows that inner shell orbitals are influenced by the molecular structure. The detected ellipticity amounts 2.3x10-10 and could be only observed by an extremely small polarization purity of 5.7x10-10.
With the same polarimeter an experiment on nuclear resonant scattering of 57Fe was possible to detect spontaneously generated coherences [2]. This experiment was performed collaborative between the groups headed by Ralf Röhlsberger from DESY, by Jörg Evers of the MPIK Heidelberg and Gerhard G. Paulus of the HI-Jena.
The randomness of spontaneous emission spoils the delicate control that underlies most applications of quantum mechanics. However, one can trick an atom into spontaneously evolving to a well-defined quantum state, if certain fundamental obstacles are overcome. The so-called spontaneously generated coherences (SGC) created in this process have been proposed theoretically for applications ranging from novel lasing concepts to quantum-enhanced solar cells. By exploiting cooperative dynamics of many atoms in a cavity, we have realized and directly observed SGC. Our setup involves atomic nuclei that are driven by hard X-rays. It provides a powerful platform to explore SGC in the emerging field of X-ray quantum optics.
Many key challenges across natural sciences amount to the deterministic control of quantum systems. A major obstacle is spontaneous emission, which induces uncontrollable random dynamics. Spontaneously generated coherences (SGC) provide an intrinsic mechanism to suppress spontaneous emission without requiring external control, but usually they do not play a role due to fundamental limitations. We overcome these limits and make SGC accessible to optical sciences as a whole, across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Furthermore, our setup facilitates the exploration of quantum optical concepts with hard X-rays.
[1] B. Marx et al., "High-Precision X-Ray Polarimetry", Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 254801 (2013)
[2] K. Heeg et al., "Vacuum-Assisted Generation and Control of Atomic Coherences at X-Ray Energies", Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 073601 (2013)
News and Announcements
Collaborative research projects at LLNL, Livermore and LBNL, Berkeley
For collaborative projects in the realm of atomic, plasma, and nuclear physics research at LLNL, Livermore and LBNL, Berkeley funds for advanced graduate students are available. In case of interest, please get in contact with Thomas Stöhlker.
Upcoming events
Colloquium of the Physics Faculty
Main lecture hall, Max-Wien-Platz 1, Jena
IOQ Seminar
IOQ Conference Room, Max-Wien-Platz 1
Antrittsvorlesung
Main Auditorium of the FSU, Fürstengraben 1
IOQ Seminar
IOQ Conference Room, Max-Wien-Platz 1
"Ultrafast coherent control of electron dynamics"
Matthias Wollenhaupt
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Straße 9-11,26129 Oldenburg, Germany
The ability to generate ultrashort laser pulses of controllable shape with sub-attosecond precision has made it possible to precisely manipulate the electron dynamics of quantum systems.
Recently, we have developed a tomographic reconstruction method to directly measure three-dimensional photoelectron angular distributions resulting from REMPI in a Velocity Map Imaging (VMI) set-up. On atoms we have demonstrated the creation of designer electron wave packets using polarization shaped laser pulses [1].
In another experiment, we show how precision pulse shaping is used to manipulate the coupled electron and nuclear dynamics in order to address different bound electronic target states in a molecule. In our two-color energy resolved photoelectron spectroscopy experiment an intense IR-pulse, the phase of which is tailored to the electronic wave packet oscillation, guides the system towards a preselected target channel [2].
Finally, a femtosecond laser based approach to chiral recognition of randomly oriented molecules in the gas phase enabling implementations in analytics is presented. PAD resulting from REMPI of camphor and fenchone molecules are studied in order to investigate the Circular Dichroism in the photo-ionization of chiral molecules. The observed circular dichroism effect using left- and right-handed circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses is in the ± ten percent regime [3]
References
[1] M. Wollenhaupt, C. Lux, M. Krug and T. Baumert, Tomographic Reconstruction of Designer Free-Electron Wave Packets, Chem. Phys. Chem., 14, 1341-1349 (2013).
[2] T. Bayer, H. Braun, C. Sarpe, R. Siemering, P. von den Hoff, R. de Vivie-Riedle, T. Baumert and M. Wollenhaupt, Charge oscillation controlled molecular excitation, Phys. Rev. Lett., 110, 123003 (2013).
[3] C. Lux, M. Wollenhaupt, T. Bolze, Q. Liang, J. Köhler, C. Sarpe and T. Baumert, Circular Dichroism in the Photoelectron Angular Distributions of Camphor and Fenchone from Multiphoton Ionization with Femtosecond Laser Pulses, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 51, 5001-5005 (2012).
Memorial colloquium for Prof. Dr. Paul Kienle
GSI, Großer Hörsaal, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt
Memorial colloquium for Prof. Dr. Paul Kienle, Scientific Director of GSI from 1984 to 1992, who passed away in January 2013.
Festkolloquium:
- Der SIS/ESR-Beschleunigerkomplex: Paul Kienles neue Wege für die Kernphysik - Volker Metag, University Giessen
- Der Experimentierspeicherring ESR: Paul Kienles großartiges Geschenk für die Atomphysik - Thomas Stöhlker, University Jena and Helmholtz-Institut Jena
International Conference on Precision Physics of Simple Atomic Systems (PSAS)
Rio (Brasil)
Further announcements and informations are available at the conference webpage: www.if.ufrj.br/~lenz/PSAS2014
CLEO 2014 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications
San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, CA (USA)
International meeting on lasers & electro-optics. Further informations are available at www.cleoconference.org.
International conference of the European Group on Atomic Systems (EGAS)
Lille (France)
For more information and abstract submission, please visit the conference website at www.egas46.org.
HGS-HIRe Summer Student Program 2014
GSI, Planckstr. 1, 64291 Darmstadt
Also next year the graduate school HGS-HIRe and GSI will organize the Summer Student Program at GSI. It is offered to students on the advanced undergraduate level (Bachelor, Master or Diploma) in physics and related natural science and engineering disciplines from Europe and GSI/FAIR partner countries.
Further information for applicants as well as a poster can be found on this link: www.hgs-hire.de/summer-program.
Applications and recommendations must be handed in before February 15th.
Recent publications
Ultra-thin polymer foils for laser-ion acceleration
B. Aurand, B. Elkin, L.-O. Heim, B. Lommel, B. Kindler, M. Tomut, C. Rödel, S. Kuschel, O. Jäckel, and T. Kühl
J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 299, 965 (2014)
doi: 10.1007/s10967-013-2627-3
Generation of high photon flux coherent soft x-ray radiation with few-cycle pulses
S. Demmler, J. Rothhardt, S. Hädrich, M. Krebs, A. Hage, J. Limpert, and A. Tünnermann
Opt. Lett. 38, 5051 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OL.38.005051
Probing the Complex Ion Structure in Liquid Carbon at 100 GPa
D. Kraus, J. Vorberger, D. O. Gericke, V. Bagnoud, A. Blazevic, W. Cayzac, A. Frank, G. Gregori, A. Ortner, A. Otten, F. Roth, G. Schaumann, D. Schumacher, K. Siegenthaler, F. Wagner, K. Wünsch, and M. Roth
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 255501 (2013)
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.255501
Characterization of 700 μJ T rays generated during high-power laser solid interaction
A. Gopal, P. Singh, S. Herzer, A. Reinhard, A. Schmidt, U. Dillner, T. May, H.-G. Meyer, W. Ziegler, and G. G. Paulus
Opt. Lett. 38, 4705 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OL.38.004705
Efficient burst mode amplifier for ultra-short pulses based on cryogenically cooled Yb3+:CaF2
J. Körner, J. Hein, H. Liebetrau, R. Seifert, D. Klöpfel, M. Kahle, M. Loeser, M. Siebold, U. Schramm, and M. C. Kaluza
Opt. Express 21, 29006 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OE.21.029006
Few-cycle optical probe-pulse for investigation of relativistic laser-plasma interactions
M. B. Schwab, A. Sävert, O. Jäckel, J. Polz, M. Schnell, T. Rinck, L. Veisz, M. Möller, P. Hansinger, G. G. Paulus, and M. C. Kaluza
Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 191118 (2013)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4829489
Long-term stabilization of high power optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers
R. Riedel, M. Schulz, M. J. Prandolini, A. Hage, H. Höppner, T. Gottschall, J. Limpert, M. Drescher, and F. Tavella
Opt. Express 21, 28987 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OE.21.028987
Sm3+-doped La2O3–Al2O3–SiO2-glasses: structure, fluorescence and thermal expansion
S. Kuhn, A. Herrmann, J. Hein, M. C. Kaluza, and C. Rüssel
J. Mater. Sci. 48, 8014 (2013)
doi: 10.1007/s10853-013-7613-1
Characterization of strongly-bent HAPG crystals for von-Hámos x-ray spectrographs
U. Zastrau, A. Woldegeorgis, E. Förster, R. Loetzsch, H. Marschner, and I. Uschmann
J. Instrum. 8, P10006 (2013)
doi: 10.1088/1748-0221/8/10/P10006
Differential L-shell radiative recombination rate coefficients for bare uranium ions interacting with low-energy electrons
D. Banaś, M. Pajek, A. Gumberidze, A. Surzhykov, and Th. Stöhlker
Eur. Phys. J. ST 222, 2317 (2013)
doi: 10.1140/epjst/e2013-02011-2
An extreme ultraviolet Michelson interferometer for experiments at free-electron lasers
V. Hilbert, A. Blinne, S. Fuchs, T. Feigl, T. Kämpfer, C. Rödel, I. Uschmann, M. Wünsche, G. Paulus, E. Förster, and U. Zastrau
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 84, 095111 (2013)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4821146
Measurement and simulations of hollow atom X-ray spectra of solid-density relativistic plasma created by high-contrast PW optical laser pulses
S. Pikuz, A. Faenov, J. Colgan, R. Dance, J. Abdallah, E. Wagenaars, N. Booth, O. Culfa, R. Evans, R. Gray, T. Kämpfer, K. Lancaster, P. McKenna, A. Rossall, I. Skobelev, K. Schulze, I. Uschmann, A. Zhidkov, and N. Woolsey
HEDP 9, 560 (2013)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2013.05.008
Bessel beams of two-level atoms driven by a linearly polarized laser field
A. Hayrapetyan, O. Matula, A. Surzhykov, and S. Fritzsche
Eur. Phys. J. D 67, 167 (2013)
doi: 10.1140/epjd/e2013-30191-x
Observation of Gigawatt-Class THz Pulses from a Compact Laser-Driven Particle Accelerator
A. Gopal, S. Herzer, A. Schmidt, P. Singh, A. Reinhard, W. Ziegler, D. Brömmel, A. Karmakar, P. Gibbon, U. Dillner, T. May, H.-G. Meyer, and G. G. Paulus
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 074802 (2013)
doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.074802
Passive mitigation strategies for mode instabilities in high-power fiber laser systems
C. Jauregui, H.-J. Otto, F. Stutzki, F. Jansen, J. Limpert, and A. Tünnermann
Opt. Express 21, 19375 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OE.21.019375
Chlorine atom densities in the (3p^5)^2P_{1/2}^{0} excited spin-orbit state measured by two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence in a chlorine inductively coupled plasma
N. Sirse, J. P. Booth, P. Chabert, A. Surzhykov, and P. Indelicato
J. Phys. D 46, 295203 (2013)
doi: 10.1088/0022-3727/46/29/295203
Controlling mode instabilities by dynamic mode excitation with an acousto-optic deflector
H.-J. Otto, C. Jauregui, F. Stutzki, F. Jansen, J. Limpert, and A. Tünnermann
Opt. Express 21, 17285 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OE.21.017285
Magnesium aluminosilicate glasses as potential laser host material for ultrahigh power laser systems
M. Tiegel, A. Herrmann, C. Russel, J. Korner, D. Klopfel, J. Hein, and M. C. Kaluza
J. Mater. Chem. C 1, 5031 (2013)
doi: 10.1039/C3TC30761A
Temperature dependent emission and absorption cross section of Yb3+ doped yttrium lanthanum oxide (YLO) ceramic and its application in diode pumped amplifier
S. Banerjee, J. Koerner, M. Siebold, Q. Yang, K. Ertel, P. D. Mason, P. J. Phillips, M. Loeser, H. Zhang, S. Lu, J. Hein, U. Schramm, M. C. Kaluza, and J. L. Collier
Opt. Express 21, 726 (2013)
doi: 10.1364/OE.21.00A726
X-ray radiographic expansion measurements of isochorically heated thin wire targets
D. C. Hochhaus, B. Aurand, M. Basko, B. Ecker, T. Kühl, T. Ma, F. Rosmej, B. Zielbauer, and P. Neumayer
Phys. Plasmas 20, 062703 (2013)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4810801