Roaming reactions involving a neutral fragment of a molecule that transiently wanders around another fragment before forming a new bond are intriguing and peculiar pathways for molecular rearrangement. Such reactions can occur for example upon double ionization of small organic molecules, and have recently sparked much scientific interest. We have studied the dynamics of the H-2-roaming reaction leading to the formation of H-3(+) after two-photon double ionization of ethanol and 2-aminoethanol, using an XUV-UV pump-probe scheme. For ethanol, we find dynamics similar to previous studies employing different pump-probe schemes, indicating the independence of the observed dynamics from the method of ionization and the photon energy of the disruptive probe pulse. Surprisingly, we do not observe a kinetic isotope effect in ethanol-D6, in contrast to previous experiments on methanol where such an effect was observed. This distinction indicates fundamental differences in the energetics of the reaction pathways as compared to the methanol molecule. The larger number of possible roaming pathways compared to methanol complicates the analysis considerably. In contrast to previous studies, we additionally analyze a broad range of dissociative ionization products, which feature distinct dynamics from that of H-3(+) and allow initial insight into the action of the disruptive UV-probe pulse.

Roaming reactions involving a neutral fragment of a molecule that transiently wanders around another fragment before forming a new bond are intriguing and peculiar pathways for molecular rearrangement. Such reactions can occur for example upon double ionization of small organic molecules, and have recently sparked much scientific interest. We have studied the dynamics of the [Formula: see text]-roaming reaction leading to the formation of [Formula: see text] after two-photon double ionization of ethanol and 2-aminoethanol, using an XUV-UV pump-probe scheme. For ethanol, we find dynamics similar to previous studies employing different pump-probe schemes, indicating the independence of the observed dynamics from the method of ionization and the photon energy of the disruptive probe pulse. Surprisingly, we do not observe a kinetic isotope effect in ethanol-[Formula: see text], in contrast to previous experiments on methanol where such an effect was observed. This distinction indicates fundamental differences in the energetics of the reaction pathways as compared to the methanol molecule. The larger number of possible roaming pathways compared to methanol complicates the analysis considerably. In contrast to previous studies, we additionally analyze a broad range of dissociative ionization products, which feature distinct dynamics from that of [Formula: see text] and allow initial insight into the action of the disruptive UV-probe pulse.

In this comprehensive review, we explore interatomic and intermolecular correlated electronic decay phenomena observed in superfluid helium nanodroplets subjected to extreme ultraviolet radiation. Helium nanodroplets, known for their distinctive electronic and quantum fluid properties, provide an ideal environment for examining a variety of non-local electronic decay processes involving the transfer of energy, charge, or both between neighboring sites and resulting in ionization and the emission of low-kinetic energy electrons. Key processes include interatomic or intermolecular Coulombic decay and its variants, such as electron transfer-mediated decay. Insights gained from studying these light-matter interactions in helium nanodroplets enhance our understanding of the effects of ionizing radiation on other condensed-phase systems, including biological matter. We also emphasize the advanced experimental and computational techniques that make it possible to resolve electronic decay processes with high spectral and temporal precision. Utilizing ultrashort pulses from free-electron lasers, the temporal evolution of these processes can be followed, significantly advancing our comprehension of the dynamics within quantum fluid clusters and non-local electronic interactions in nanoscale systems.

Roaming is an unconventional type of molecular reaction where fragments, instead of immediately dissociating, remain weakly bound due to long-range Coulombic interactions. Due to its prevalence and ability to form new molecular compounds, roaming is fundamental to photochemical reactions in small molecules. However, the neutral character of the roaming fragment and its indeterminate trajectory make it difficult to identify experimentally. Here, we introduce an approach to image roaming, utilizing intense, femtosecond IR radiation combined with Coulomb explosion imaging to directly reconstruct the momentum vector of the neutral roaming H-2, a precursor to H-3(+) formation, in acetonitrile, CH3CN. This technique provides a kinematically complete picture of the underlying molecular dynamics and yields an unambiguous experimental signature of roaming. We corroborate these findings with quantum chemistry calculations, resolving this unique dissociative process.

Ultrafast H2+ and H3+ formation from ethanol is studied using pump-probe spectroscopy with an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) free-electron laser. The first pulse creates a dication, triggering H2 roaming that leads to H2+ and H3+ formation, which is disruptively probed by a second pulse. At photon energies of 28 and 32 eV, the ratio of H2+ to H3+ increases with time delay, while it is flat at a photon energy of 70 eV. The delay-dependent effect is ascribed to a competition between electron and proton transfer. High-level quantum chemistry calculations show a flat potential energy surface for H2 formation, indicating that the intermediate state may have a long lifetime. The ab initio molecular dynamics simulation confirms that, in addition to the direct emission, a small portion of H2 undergoes a roaming mechanism that leads to two competing pathways: electron transfer from H2 to C2H4O2+ and proton transfer from C2H4O2+ to H2.

Roaming has been proposed as a possible mechanism contributing to molecular dissociation in which the fragments can move around one another at relatively large intermolecular distances before separating entirely. While roaming, there is sufficient time for other processes to occur, which can lead to the formation of new molecular compounds. Due to the neutral character of the roaming fragments, they follow a rather indeterminate trajectory, thus complicating their identification and systematic study. Here, we temporally resolve the roaming of $H_2$ from ionized acetonitrile, $CH_3CN$. Using intense, femtosecond IR radiation combined with coincident Coulomb explosion imaging, we can directly reconstruct the momentum of the roaming $H_2$, thereby gaining an unambiguous, experimental signature of roaming as well as a kinematically complete picture of the underlying molecular dynamics. Afterward, a portion of the neutral $H_2$ molecules forms $H_3^+$ ions, an important cation in astrophysics, through proton transfer within a few hundred femtoseconds. With the aid of quantum chemistry calculations, we can fully determine how this unique dissociative process occurs.

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have brought new ways to probe and manipulate atomic and molecular dynamics with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. A quantitative comparison of experimental results with their simulated theoretical counterpart, however, generally requires a precise characterization of the spatial and temporal x-ray pulse profile, providing a nonuniform photon distribution. The determination of the pulse profile constitutes a major, yet inevitable, challenge. Here, we propose a calibration scheme for intense XFEL pulses utilizing a set of experimental charge-state distributions of light noble gas atoms at a series of pulse energies in combination with first-principles simulations of the underlying atomic x-ray multiphoton ionization dynamics. The calibration builds on Bayesian optimization, which is a powerful, machine-learning-based tool particularly well suited for computationally expensive numerical optimization. We demonstrate the presented scheme to calibrate the pulse duration as well as the spatial fluence distribution profile of XFEL pulses. Our proposed method can serve as a comprehensive tool for characterizing ultraintense and ultrafast x-ray pulses.

In quantum systems, coherent superpositions of electronic states evolve on ultrafast time scales (few femtoseconds to attoseconds; 1 attosecond = 0.001 femtoseconds = 10 −18 seconds), leading to a time-dependent charge density. Here we performed time-resolved measurements using attosecond soft x-ray pulses produced by a free-electron laser, to track the evolution of a coherent core-hole excitation in nitric oxide. Using an additional circularly polarized infrared laser pulse, we created a clock to time-resolve the electron dynamics and demonstrated control of the coherent electron motion by tuning the photon energy of the x-ray pulse. Core-excited states offer a fundamental test bed for studying coherent electron dynamics in highly excited and strongly correlated matter.

As opposed to purely molecular systems where electron dynamics proceed only through intramolecular processes, weakly bound complexes such as He droplets offer an environment where local excitations can interact with neighbouring embedded molecules leading to new intermolecular relaxation mechanisms. Here, we report on a new decay mechanism leading to the double ionization of alkali dimers attached to He droplets by intermolecular energy transfer. From the electron spectra, the process is similar to the well-known shake-off mechanism observed in double Auger decay and single-photon double ionization 1 , 2 , however, in this case, the process is dominant, occurring with efficiencies equal to, or greater than, single ionization by energy transfer. Although an alkali dimer attached to a He droplet is a model case, the decay mechanism is relevant for any system where the excitation energy of one constituent exceeds the double ionization potential of another neighbouring molecule. The process is, in particular, relevant for biological systems, where radicals and slow electrons are known to cause radiation damage 3 .

We have explored the light induced dynamics in superfluid helium nanodroplets with wide-angle scattering in a pump-probe measurement scheme. The droplets are doped with xenon atoms to facilitate the ignition of a nanoplasma through irradiation with near-infrared laser pulses. After a variable time delay of up to 800 ps, we image the subsequent dynamics using intense extreme ultraviolet pulses from the FERMI free-electron laser. The recorded scattering images exhibit complex intensity fluctuations that are categorized based on their characteristic features. Systematic simulations of wide-angle diffraction patterns are performed, which can qualitatively explain the observed features by employing model shapes with both randomly distributed as well as structured, symmetric distortions. This points to a connection between the dynamics and the positions of the dopants in the droplets. In particular, the structured fluctuations might be governed by an underlying array of quantized vortices in the superfluid droplet as has been observed in previous small-angle diffraction experiments. Our results provide a basis for further investigations of dopant-droplet interactions and associated heating mechanisms.

Superfluid helium nanodroplets are often considered as transparent and chemically inert nanometer-sized cryo-matrices for high-resolution or time-resolved spectroscopy of embedded molecules and clusters. On the other hand, when the helium nanodroplets are resonantly excited with XUV radiation, a multitude of ultrafast processes are initiated, such as relaxation into metastable states, formation of nanoscopic bubbles or excimers, and autoionization channels generating low-energy free electrons. Here, we discuss the full spectrum of ultrafast relaxation processes observed when helium nanodroplets are electronically excited. In particular, we perform an in-depth study of the relaxation dynamics occurring in the lowest 1s2s and 1s2p droplet bands using high resolution, time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. The simplified excitation scheme and improved resolution allow us to identify the relaxation into metastable triplet and excimer states even when exciting below the droplets' autoionization threshold, unobserved in previous studies.

Interatomic processes play a crucial role in weakly bound complexes exposed to ionizing radiation; therefore, gaining a thorough understanding of their efficiency is of fundamental importance. Here, we directly measure the timescale of interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD) in resonantly excited helium nanodroplets using a high-resolution, tunable, extreme ultraviolet free-electron laser. Over an extensive range of droplet sizes and laser intensities, we discover the decay to be surprisingly fast, with decay times as short as 400 fs, nearly independent of the density of the excited states. Using a combination of time-dependent density functional theory and ab initio quantum chemistry calculations, we elucidate the mechanisms of this ultrafast decay process, where pairs of excited helium atoms in one droplet strongly attract each other and form merging void bubbles, which drastically accelerates ICD.

Here, we report on the nonlinear ionization of argon atoms in the short wavelength regime using ultraintense x rays from the European XFEL. After sequential multiphoton ionization, high charge states are obtained. For photon energies that are insufficient to directly ionize a 1s electron, a different mechanism is required to obtain ionization to Ar^{17+}. We propose this occurs through a two-color process where the second harmonic of the FEL pulse resonantly excites the system via a 1s→2p transition followed by ionization by the fundamental FEL pulse, which is a type of x-ray resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI). This resonant phenomenon occurs not only for Ar^{16+}, but also through lower charge states, where multiple ionization competes with decay lifetimes, making x-ray REMPI distinctive from conventional REMPI. With the aid of state-of-the-art theoretical calculations, we explain the effects of x-ray REMPI on the relevant ion yields and spectral profile.

Clusters and nanodroplets hold the promise of enhancing high-order nonlinear optical effects due to their high local density. However, only moderate enhancement has been demonstrated to date. Here, we report the observation of energetic electrons generated by above-threshold ionization (ATI) of helium (He) nanodroplets which are resonantly excited by ultrashort extreme ultraviolet (XUV) free-electron laser pulses and subsequently ionized by near-infrared (NIR) or near-ultraviolet (UV) pulses. The electron emission due to high-order ATI is enhanced by several orders of magnitude compared with He atoms. The crucial dependence of the ATI intensities with the number of excitations in the droplets suggests a local collective enhancement effect.

The S1 ← S0 electronic transition of perylene bisimide (PBI) and its binary aggregates were investigated using a combination of helium nanodroplet isolation spectroscopy and computational methods. First, well-resolved vibronic bands of the PBI monomer obtained under the superfluid helium nanodroplet environment were compared to simulated vibronic spectra with anharmonic corrections of the band positions. Second, about ten sets of weaker vibronic bands were observed, which show similar vibronic patterns as that of the PBI monomer and have their band origins red-shifted by about 8 to 218 cm-1. Experimental Poisson curve analyses, performed at the origins of these new sets of bands and the PBI monomer, indicate that the carriers of these weaker red-shifted vibronic bands are binary adducts of PBI. Three types of PBI dimer structures where the electronic transition dipole moments of the two subunits are perpendicular to each other were proposed as possible carriers of these red-shifted vibronic patterns. Extensive vibronic simulations were carried out in a multi-step procedure with TD-DFT, vertical Hessian, and finally adiabatic Hessian approaches. Small red-shifted band origins and very similar vibronic patterns to that of the monomer were predicted for unusual, T-shaped, type I dimer structures and are in close agreement with the experimental data. The combined experimental and theoretical results indicate that the helium nanodroplet environment enables the formation of these unusual T-shaped dimers and stabilizes them.

Upon photoexcitation, molecules can undergo numerous complex processes, such as isomerization and roaming, leading to changes in the molecular and electronic structure. Here, we report on the time-resolved ultrafast nuclear dynamics, initiated by laser ionization, in the two structural isomers, 1- and 2-propanol, using a combination of pump-probe spectroscopy and coincident Coulomb explosion imaging. Our measurements, paired with quantum chemistry calculations, identify the mechanisms for the observed two- and three-body dissociation channels for both isomers. In particular, the fragmentation channel of 2-propanol associated with the loss of CH3 shows possible evidence of methyl roaming. Moreover, the electronic structure of this roaming methyl fragment could be responsible for the enhanced ionization also observed for this channel. Finally, comparison with similar studies done on ethanol and acetonitrile helps establish a correlation between the length of the alkyl chain and the likelihood of hydrogen migration.

High-intensity extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses from a free-electron laser can be used to create a nanoplasma in clusters. In reference Michiels et al (2020 Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 22 7828–34) we investigated the formation of excited states in an XUV-induced nanoplasma in ammonia clusters. In the present article we expand our previous study with a detailed analysis of the nanoplasma evolution and ion kinetics. We use a time-delayed UV laser as probe to ionize excited states of H and H 2 + in the XUV-induced plasma. Employing covariance mapping techniques, we show that the correlated emission of protons plays an important role in the plasma dynamics. The time-dependent kinetic energy of the ions created by the probe laser is measured, revealing the charge neutralization of the cluster happens on a sub-picosecond timescale. Furthermore, we observe ro-vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen ions H 2 + * being ejected from the clusters. We rationalize our data through a qualitative model of a finite-size non-thermal plasma.

The earliest stages of hydrated electron formation are revealed by femtosecond extreme ultraviolet photoelectron imaging.

When weakly-bound complexes are multiply excited by intense electromagnetic radiation, energy can be exchanged between neighboring atoms through a type of resonant interatomic Coulombic decay (ICD). This decay mechanism due to multiple excitations has been predicted to be relatively slow, typically lasting tens to hundreds of picoseconds. Here, we directly measure the ICD timescale in resonantly excited helium droplets using a high resolution, tunable, extreme ultraviolet free electron laser. Over an extensive range of droplet sizes and laser intensities, we discover the decay to be surprisingly fast, with decay times as fast as 400 femtoseconds, and to only present a weak dependence on the density of the excited states. Using a combination of time dependent density functional theory and ab initio quantum chemistry calculations, we elucidate the mechanisms of this ultrafast decay process where pairs of excited helium atoms in one droplet strongly attract each other and form merging void bubbles which drastically accelerates ICD.