Ultrafast Probing of Core Hole Localization in N

Although valence electrons are clearly delocalized in molecular bonding frameworks, chemists and physicists have long debated the question of whether the core vacancy created in a homonuclear diatomic molecule by absorption of a single x-ray photon is localized on one atom or delocalized over both....

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Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2008-05, Vol.320 (5878), p.920-923
Main Authors: Schöffler, M.S, Titze, J, Petridis, N, Jahnke, T, Cole, K, Schmidt, L. Ph.H, Czasch, A, Akoury, D, Jagutzki, O, Williams, J.B, Cherepkov, N.A, Semenov, S.K, McCurdy, C.W, Rescigno, T.N, Cocke, C.L, Osipov, T, Lee, S, Prior, M.H, Belkacem, A, Landers, A.L, Schmidt-Böcking, H, Weber, Th, Dörner, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angular distribution
Atoms
Augers
Electron emission
Electrons
Ions
Molecules
Photoelectrons
Photons
Wave functions
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Summary:Although valence electrons are clearly delocalized in molecular bonding frameworks, chemists and physicists have long debated the question of whether the core vacancy created in a homonuclear diatomic molecule by absorption of a single x-ray photon is localized on one atom or delocalized over both. We have been able to clarify this question with an experiment that uses Auger electron angular emission patterns from molecular nitrogen after inner-shell ionization as an ultrafast probe of hole localization. The experiment, along with the accompanying theory, shows that observation of symmetry breaking (localization) or preservation (delocalization) depends on how the quantum entangled Bell state created by Auger decay is detected by the measurement.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1154989