title: Diffraction using laser-driven broadband electron wave packets.
abstract: Directly monitoring atomic motion during a molecular transformation with atomic-scale spatio-temporal resolution is a frontier of ultrafast optical science and physical chemistry. Here we provide the foundation for a new imaging method, fixed-angle broadband laser-induced electron scattering, based on structural retrieval by direct one-dimensional Fourier transform of a photoelectron energy distribution observed along the polarization direction of an intense ultrafast light pulse. The approach exploits the scattering of a broadband wave packet created by strong-field tunnel ionization to self-interrogate the molecular structure with picometre spatial resolution and bond specificity. With its inherent femtosecond resolution, combining our technique with molecular alignment can, in principle, provide the basis for time-resolved tomography for multi-dimensional transient structural determination.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA [2].
authors.forename: Junliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA [2].
authors.forename: Cosmin I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Blaga
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Kaikai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Yu Hang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Terry A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Agostini
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Louis F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: DiMauro