Time-resolved atomic inner-shell spectroscopy.
The characteristic time constants of the relaxation dynamics of core-excited atoms have hitherto been inferred from the linewidths of electronic transitions measured by continuous-wave extreme ultraviolet or X-ray spectroscopy. Here we demonstrate that a laser-based sampling system, consisting of a few-femtosecond visible light pulse and a synchronized sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulse, allows us to trace these dynamics directly in the time domain with attosecond resolution. We have measured a lifetime of 7.9(-0.9)(+1.0) fs of M-shell vacancies of krypton in such a pump-probe experiment.
Drescher
M
M
Institut für Photonik, Technische Universität Wien, Gusshausstrasse 27, A-1040 Wien, Austria. drescher@physik.uni-bielefeld.de
Hentschel
M
M
Kienberger
R
R
Uiberacker
M
M
Yakovlev
V
V
Scrinzi
A
A
Westerwalbesloh
Th
T
Kleineberg
U
U
Heinzmann
U
U
Krausz
F
F