Young’s Slit Experiment For Attosecond Chemistry

The new research field of attosecond chemistry aims to control chemical reactions from the attosecond time scale (10^-18s), when charge migration occurs in the molecular backbones, until hundreds of femtoseconds(10^-15s), when the reaction outcome has been determined by the correlated electron-nuclear motion.

At these times scales, the wave-particle duality matters, and understanding how the phase relationships between electronic states, i.e. the coherences, are preserved over time is crucial but largely unexplored.Our recent demonstration of Young’s slit experiment in time using attosecond pulses offers a novel approach to probe electronic coherence through photoemission interferometry.

The purpose of this project is to investigate the electronic (de)coherence in the field of attosecond chemistry using this next generation of attosecond experiments.

Our aims are toImprove our ability to quantify coherence by using light fields with tailored angular momentum,Monitor ultrafast decoherence in DNA-nucleobases in real time.To reach these goals, we will combine cutting-edge instrumentations, such as kinematically complete experiments and a 200kHz attosecond beamline, and study atoms and biomolecules.

By bringing together highly recognized international experts from Lund and Hamburg Universities, we will address fundamental questions in quantum mechanics.

Exciting discoveries are expected concerning the role of (de)coherence in correlated multi-electron and nuclear dynamics.