Jitter-correction for IR/UV-XUV pump-probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser

Journal article

In pump-probe experiments employing a free-electron laser (FEL) in combination with a synchronized optical femtosecond laser, the arrival-time jitter between the FEL pulse and the optical laser pulse often severely limits the temporal resolution that can be achieved. Here, we present a pump-probe experiment on the UV-induced dissociation of 2,6-difluoroiodobenzene (C₆H₃F₂I) molecules performed at the FLASH FEL that takes advantage of recent upgrades of the FLASH timing and synchronization system to obtain high-quality data that are not limited by the FEL arrival-time jitter. We discuss in detail the necessary data analysis steps and describe the origin of the time-dependent effects in the yields and kinetic energies of the fragment ions that we observe in the experiment.

Authors: Savelyev, E; Boll, R; Bomme, C; Schirmel, N; Redlin, H

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Journal: New Journal of Physics
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 043009
• Publication date: 2017-04-10
• Acceptance date: 2017-03-07
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/aa652d
• EISSN: 1367-2630
• ISSN: 1367-2630
• Keywords: photodissociation; free-electron laser; pump-probe experiments; time-resolved ion imaging; velocity map imaging