A tabletop femtosecond time-resolved soft x-ray transient absorption spectrometer

Zhi Heng Loh, Munira Khalil, Raoul E. Correa, Stephen R. Leone

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A laser-based, tabletop instrument is constructed to perform femtosecond soft x-ray transient absorption spectroscopy. Ultrashort soft x-ray pulses produced via high-order harmonic generation of the amplified output of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system are used to probe atomic core-level transient absorptions in atoms and molecules. The results provide chemically specific, time-resolved dynamics with sub-50-fs time resolution. In this setup, high-order harmonics generated in a Ne-filled capillary waveguide are refocused by a gold-coated toroidal mirror into the sample gas cell, where the soft x-ray light intersects with an optical pump pulse. The transmitted high-order harmonics are spectrally dispersed with a homebuilt soft x-ray spectrometer, which consists of a gold-coated toroidal mirror, a uniform-line spaced plane grating, and a soft x-ray charge coupled device camera. The optical layout of the instrument, design of the soft x-ray spectrometer, and spatial and temporal characterizations of the high-order harmonics are described. Examples of static and time-resolved photoabsorption spectra collected on this apparatus are presented.

Original languageEnglish
Article number073101
JournalReview of Scientific Instruments
Volume79
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Instrumentation

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