TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Jie A1 - Gühr, Markus A1 - Vecchione, Theodore A1 - Robinson, Matthew Scott A1 - Li, Renkai A1 - Hartmann, Nick A1 - Shen, Xiaozhe A1 - Coffee, Ryan A1 - Corbett, Jeff A1 - Fry, Alan A1 - Gaffney, Kelly A1 - Gorkhover, Tais A1 - Hast, Carsten A1 - Jobe, Keith A1 - Makasyuk, Igor A1 - Reid, Alexander A1 - Robinson, Joseph A1 - Vetter, Sharon A1 - Wang, Fenglin A1 - Weathersby, Stephen A1 - Yoneda, Charles A1 - Wang, Xijie A1 - Centurion, Martin T1 - Femtosecond gas phase electron diffraction with MeV electrons JF - Faraday discussions N2 - We present results on ultrafast gas electron diffraction (UGED) experiments with femtosecond resolution using the MeV electron gun at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. UGED is a promising method to investigate molecular dynamics in the gas phase because electron pulses can probe the structure with a high spatial resolution. Until recently, however, it was not possible for UGED to reach the relevant timescale for the motion of the nuclei during a molecular reaction. Using MeV electron pulses has allowed us to overcome the main challenges in reaching femtosecond resolution, namely delivering short electron pulses on a gas target, overcoming the effect of velocity mismatch between pump laser pulses and the probe electron pulses, and maintaining a low timing jitter. At electron kinetic energies above 3 MeV, the velocity mismatch between laser and electron pulses becomes negligible. The relativistic electrons are also less susceptible to temporal broadening due to the Coulomb force. One of the challenges of diffraction with relativistic electrons is that the small de Broglie wavelength results in very small diffraction angles. In this paper we describe the new setup and its characterization, including capturing static diffraction patterns of molecules in the gas phase, finding time-zero with sub-picosecond accuracy and first time-resolved diffraction experiments. The new device can achieve a temporal resolution of 100 fs root-mean-square, and sub-angstrom spatial resolution. The collimation of the beam is sufficient to measure the diffraction pattern, and the transverse coherence is on the order of 2 nm. Currently, the temporal resolution is limited both by the pulse duration of the electron pulse on target and by the timing jitter, while the spatial resolution is limited by the average electron beam current and the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection system. We also discuss plans for improving both the temporal resolution and the spatial resolution. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c6fd00071a SN - 1359-6640 SN - 1364-5498 VL - 194 SP - 563 EP - 581 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Jie A1 - Gühr, Markus A1 - Vecchione, Theodore A1 - Robinson, Matthew Scott A1 - Li, Renkai A1 - Hartmann, Nick A1 - Shen, Xiaozhe A1 - Coffee, Ryan A1 - Corbett, Jeff A1 - Fry, Alan A1 - Gaffney, Kelly A1 - Gorkhover, Tais A1 - Hast, Carsten A1 - Jobe, Keith A1 - Makasyuk, Igor A1 - Reid, Alexander A1 - Robinson, Joseph A1 - Vetter, Sharon A1 - Wang, Fenglin A1 - Weathersby, Stephen A1 - Yoneda, Charles A1 - Centurion, Martin A1 - Wang, Xijie T1 - Diffractive imaging of a rotational wavepacket in nitrogen molecules with femtosecond megaelectronvolt electron pulses JF - Nature Communications N2 - Imaging changes in molecular geometries on their natural femtosecond timescale with sub-Angstrom spatial precision is one of the critical challenges in the chemical sciences, as the nuclear geometry changes determine the molecular reactivity. For photoexcited molecules, the nuclear dynamics determine the photoenergy conversion path and efficiency. Here we report a gas-phase electron diffraction experiment using megaelectronvolt (MeV) electrons, where we captured the rotational wavepacket dynamics of nonadiabatically laser-aligned nitrogen molecules. We achieved a combination of 100 fs root-mean-squared temporal resolution and sub-Angstrom (0.76 angstrom) spatial resolution that makes it possible to resolve the position of the nuclei within the molecule. In addition, the diffraction patterns reveal the angular distribution of the molecules, which changes from prolate (aligned) to oblate (anti-aligned) in 300 fs. Our results demonstrate a significant and promising step towards making atomically resolved movies of molecular reactions. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11232 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 7 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gessner, Oliver A1 - Gühr, Markus T1 - Monitoring Ultrafast Chemical Dynamics by Time-Domain X-ray Photo- and Auger-Electron Spectroscopy JF - Accounts of chemical research N2 - The directed flow of charge and energy is at the heart of all chemical processes. Extraordinary efforts are underway to monitor and understand the concerted motion of electrons and nuclei with ever increasing spatial and temporal sensitivity. The element specificity, chemical sensitivity, and temporal resolution of ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy techniques hold great promise to provide new insight into the fundamental interactions underlying chemical dynamics in systems ranging from isolated molecules to application-like devices. Here, we focus on the potential of ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy techniques based on the detection of photo- and Auger electrons to provide new fundamental insight into photochemical processes of systems with various degrees of complexity. Isolated nucleobases provide an excellent testing ground for our most fundamental understanding of intramolecular coupling between electrons and nuclei beyond the traditionally applied Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Ultrafast electronic relaxation dynamics enabled by the breakdown of this approximation is the major component of the nucleobase photoprotection mechanisms. Transient X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy on photoexcited thymine molecules provides atomic-site specific details of the extremely efficient coupling that converts potentially bond changing ultraviolet photon energy into benign heat. In particular, the time-dependent spectral shift of a specific Auger band is sensitive to the length of a single bond within the molecule. The X-ray induced Auger transients show evidence for an electronic transition out of the initially excited state within only similar to 200 fs in contrast to theoretically predicted picosecond population trapping behind a reaction barrier. Photoinduced charge transfer dynamics between transition metal complexes and semiconductor nanostructures are of central importance for many emerging energy and climate relevant technologies. Numerous demonstrations of photovoltaic and photocatalytic activity have been performed based on the combination of strong light absorption in dye molecules with charge separation and transport in adjacent semiconductor nanostructures. However, a fundamental understanding of the enabling and limiting dynamics on critical atomic length- and time scales is often still lacking. Femtosecond time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is employed to gain a better understanding of a short-lived intermediate that may be linked to the unexpectedly limited performance of ZnO based dye-sensitized solar cells by delaying the generation of free charge carriers. The transient spectra strongly suggest that photoexcited dye molecules attached to ZnO nanocrystals inject their charges into the substrate within less than 1 ps but the electrons are then temporarily trapped at the surface of the semiconductor in direct vicinity of the injecting molecules. The experiments are extended to monitor the electronic response of the semiconductor substrate to the collective injection from a monolayer of dye molecules and the subsequent electron-ion recombination dynamics. The results indicate some qualitative similarities but quantitative differences between the recombination dynamics at molecule-semiconductor interfaces and previously studied bulk-surface electron-hole recombination dynamics in photoexcited semiconductors. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.5b00361 SN - 0001-4842 SN - 1520-4898 VL - 49 SP - 138 EP - 145 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gühr, Markus T1 - Ultrafast Soft X-ray Probing of Gas Phase Molecular Dynamics N2 - The molecular ability to selectively and efficiently convert sunlight into other forms of energy like heat, bond change, or charge separation is truly remarkable. The decisive steps in these transformations often happen on a femtosecond timescale and require transitions among different electronic states that violate the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (BOA). Non-BOA transitions pose challenges to both theory and experiment. From a theoretical point of view, excited state dynamics and nonadiabatic transitions both are difficult problems (see Figure 1(a)). However, the theory on non-BOA dynamics has advanced significantly over the last two decades. Full dynamical simulations for molecules of the size of nucleobases have been possible for a couple of years and allow predictions of experimental observables like photoelectron energy or ion yield. The availability of these calculations for isolated molecules has spurred new experimental efforts to develop methods that are sufficiently different from all optical techniques. For determination of transient molecular structure, femtosecond X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction have been implemented on optically excited molecules. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 268 Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-97215 ER -