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Published on: December 3, 2013
Electron Wave Packet Interference in Atomic Inner-Shell Excitation
T Kaneyasu1,2, Y Hikosaka3, M Fujimoto2,4
1SAGA Light Source, Tosu 841-0005, Japan.
Abstract:
We report the observation of quantum interference between electron wave packets launched from the inner-shell 4d orbital of the Xe atom. Using pairs of femtosecond radiation wave packets from a synchrotron light source, we obtain time-domain interferograms for the inner-shell excitations. This approach enables the experimental verification and control of the quantum interference between the electron wave packets. Furthermore, the femtosecond Auger decay of the inner-shell excited state is tracked. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first observation of wave packet interference in an atomic inner-shell process, and also the first time-resolved experiment on few-femtosecond Auger decay using a synchrotron light source.
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