Overall

Full Title:
Short Title (i.e. Project Acronym):
Proposal Number:
Contract Number:
Duration of the project:
Ultrashort XUV Pulses for Time-Resolved and Non-Linear Applications
XTRA
FP6-505138
MRTN-CT-2003-505138
48 Months
Contractors and Place(s) of Implementing the Project:
The Co-ordinator and other Contractors listed below shall be collectively responsible for execution of work defined in this Annex:
  • The Co-ordinator:
    • Stichting voor Fundamenteel
    • Onderzoek der Materie [FOM].................................established in The Netherlands
  • Other Contractors:
    • Lunds Universitet [LLC].........................................established in Sweden
    • Université Bordeaux 1, Centre
      Lasers Intenses et Applications [CELIA]...................established in France
    • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der
      Wissenschaften e.V. [MPQ-a and MPQ-b].................established in Germany
    • Instituto Nazionale per la Fisica
      della Materia [INFM].............................................established in Italy
    • Foundation for Research and Technology
      - Hellas [FORTH-IESL]..........................................established in Greece
      • Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique [CEA]..................established in France
    • Centre National de la Recherche
      Scientifique [CNRS]..............................................established in France
    • The Univesity of Birmingham [BIRM].........................established in the United Kingdom
    • The University of Oxford [UOXF.DU]........................established in the United Kingdom
    • The University of Szeged [SZU]..............................established in Hungary
    • Swiss Federal Institute of
      Technology, Zurich [ETH ZURICH]...........................established in Switzerland
    • Steacie Institute for Molecular Science,
      National Research Council of Canada [NRC]...............established in Canada
    • The University of Michigan[FOCUS]..........................established in United States of America
 Research
  • Project Overview
    This network unites a number of groups that in the last few years have broken the attosecond barrier with teams in atomic physics, molecular physics and solid-state physics that are eager to explore the possibilities for application of ultrashort XUV pulses in their respective fields. Through the research carried out in this network a new generation of young research scientists will be trained that in the future can play an important role in the further development and spread of this emerging technology. Their education will not just consist of the development of a new technique or the use of existing technologies in their application field of interest. Rather, they will witness and be instrumental in the birth of an important new technology. Through their network training they will become people who do not develop technologies for their own sake, but who are very aware of the fact that a new technology has to serve a purpose (in science or industry).

    In the network the method for the generation of ultrashort XUV laser pulses is harmonic generation. For the foreseeable future this is the technique of choice, and all the applications that will be attempted in the network will make use of this technique. At the same time this network is very much relevant to the ongoing development of other techniques with the potential to generate attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses. Within a few years the 2nd stage of the TESLA Free Electron Laser project will be completed, leading to the generation of ultra-high brightness pulses in a wavelength range that is covered by high harmonic generation. The network can and will play an important role in the dialogue between laser-based and synchrotron-based research teams pushing the capabilities and applications of ultrashort XUV pulses.
  • Overall Objectives
    The main objective is the development and exploitation of state-of-the-art techniques for the generation of attosecond and femtosecond extreme ultra-violet (XUV) laser pulses in important and challenging experiments in atomic, molecular and solid state physics. To make this possible, specific objectives are:

    • The development and characterization of state-of-the-art femtosecond and attosecond light sources (Task A).
      The objective is the production of stable and reproducible fully characterised attosecond and femtosecond XUV laser pulses. Topics addressed will be the generation and characterisation of ultra-high power carrier envelope phase-controlled light sources, the generation and characterisation of atosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses and new approaches for the generation of intense ultrashort XUV pulses.

    • Applications of attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses in Atomic Physics (Task B).
      The objective is to use attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses in experiments which provide an unprecedented look at structural and dynamical properties of atoms. Topics addressed will be time-resolved photoionization processes, the dynamics of strongly-driven electrons, electron-electron correlation in few-photon few-electron ionisation processes and Applications in atomic spectroscopy and metrology.

    • Applications of attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses in Molecular Physics (Task C).
      The objective is to use attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses obtained by high harmonic generation or continuum electrons to monitor molecular re-arrangement processes. Topics addressed will be time-resolved electronic and nuclear wavepackets, time-resolved molecular structure determination and photodissociation dynamics of polyatomic molecules.

    • Applications of attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses in Solid State Physics (Task D).
      The objective is to demonstrate in selected examples the use of attosecond and femtosecond XUV pulses obtained by high harmonic generation for studies of electronic relaxation and structural modifications in solids. Topics addressed will be time-resolved electron dynamics, time-resolved structural dynamics and non-linear processes on surfaces.

  • High Intensity Laser Laboratory (HILL), University of Szeged (SZU) is involved the following tasks:
    • A3: New approaches for the generation of intense ultrashort XUV pulses
      The specific aim of these tasks is to explore several highly promising schemes that will increase the generation efficiency and availability of femtosecond and attosecond XUV pulses, while greatly reducing their cost. Specific task is:
      A3.2 Harmonic generation using a high-energy sub-ps excimer laser.

    • B1: Time-resolved photoionization processes
      We will study sub-fs dynamics of inner shell ionization processes, starting from single-state lifetime measurements that can be compared to available spectroscopic measurements, and proceeding to inner shell relaxation processes involving quantum beats (as a result of coupling between adjacent states) and non-exponential decay (as a result of competing and interfering autoionization pathways). Using atomic ionization as a benchmark system, a streak camera for ultrafast detection of XUV photoionization processes will be developed, that can also be applied in Tasks C and D. Specific task is:
      B1.4 Excited state wavepacket dynamics
 Training and Transfer of Knowledge (ToK)
The main training objective of the network is to play a decisive role in the education of highly-talented young researchers with the potential to become leading scientists in an academic environment, competent project managers in industry or successful educators. The network aspires to provide young researchers with a training experience that goes well beyond the training experience that a single institution or research group can provide. It will make an important contribution to the personal and scientific development of young researchers that will improve their chances for access to the career of their choosing, be it in science, industry or in education. More specifically the network will provide training addressing three objectives, namely:
  • The network will train the young researchers in general personal skills such as management, communication and educational skills.
  • The network will train the young researchers in general research skills that will increase their access to a career in science.
  • The network will train the young researchers specific research skills in ultrafast laser physics.
You can find more information on the following website:
http://xtra.dei.unipd.it/