After their first realization in 2001, the generation and characterization of attosecond (1 as = 10^-18s) laser pulses have been significantly advanced. Two major tools are now at hand that can be used to explore ultrafast physics. The first is the ability to control electronic motion via waveform-controlled laser fields. The second is the availability of single attosecond pulses that can be used to probe electronic motion in real-time. Yet, another important tool became available with free-electron lasers generating intense XUV light pulses (e.g. FLASH in Hamburg), opening the door for the study of multi-photon processes in the XUV.

We apply these tools to control and observe ultrafast electron and nuclear dynamics in complex molecules and nanostructured materials, where the light-induced dynamics is not only governed by the response of single electrons but the correlated dynamics of many electrons. We use velocity-map imaging (VMI) and a reaction microscope (REMI), enabling coincidence studies, to obtain 3D momentum distributions of electrons and ions in our experiments to elucidate the underlying physics.

People: Dr. Boris Bergues, Oliver Herrwerth, Irina Znakovskaya, Dr. Sergey Zherebtsov

Partners: N Johnson, Dr. M Lezius, Prof. F Krausz (MPQ), Dr. R Moshammer, Prof. J Ullrich (MPI-K), Prof. CL Cocke, Prof. I Ben-Itzhak (K-State University), Prof. M Vrakking (AMOLF), Dr. Th Fennel (Rostock University), Prof. E Rühl (FU Berlin)