In:
Nature Communications, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 10, No. 1 ( 2019-05-16)
Abstract:
The increasing availability of X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has catalyzed the development of single-object structural determination and of structural dynamics tracking in real-time. Disentangling the molecular-level reactions triggered by the interaction with an XFEL pulse is a fundamental step towards developing such applications. Here we report real-time observations of XFEL-induced electronic decay via short-lived transient electronic states in the diiodomethane molecule, using a femtosecond near-infrared probe laser. We determine the lifetimes of the transient states populated during the XFEL-induced Auger cascades and find that multiply charged iodine ions are issued from short-lived (∼20 fs) transient states, whereas the singly charged ones originate from significantly longer-lived states (∼100 fs). We identify the mechanisms behind these different time scales: contrary to the short-lived transient states which relax by molecular Auger decay, the long-lived ones decay by an interatomic Coulombic decay between two iodine atoms, during the molecular fragmentation.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-1723
DOI:
10.1038/s41467-019-10060-z
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2019
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2553671-0
Permalink