Attosecond chronoscopy of electron scattering in dielectric nanoparticles

Attosecond streaking is used to study the dynamics of electron scattering in dielectric nanoparticles in real time. Revealing the mechanisms involved is the first step towards understanding electron scattering in more complex dielectrics. The scattering of electrons in dielectric materials is centra...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2017-08, Vol.13 (8), p.766-770
Main Authors: Seiffert, L., Liu, Q., Zherebtsov, S., Trabattoni, A., Rupp, P., Castrovilli, M. C., Galli, M., Süßmann, F., Wintersperger, K., Stierle, J., Sansone, G., Poletto, L., Frassetto, F., Halfpap, I., Mondes, V., Graf, C., Rühl, E., Krausz, F., Nisoli, M., Fennel, T., Calegari, F., Kling, M. F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
140/125
639/624
639/766/119
639/925
Atomic
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Condensed Matter Physics
Dielectrics
Elastic scattering
Electron scattering
Inelastic scattering
letter
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Molecular
Nanoparticles
Optical and Plasma Physics
Photoelectric emission
Photoelectrons
Physics
Radiation damage
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Spectroscopy
Spectrum analysis
Theoretical
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Summary:Attosecond streaking is used to study the dynamics of electron scattering in dielectric nanoparticles in real time. Revealing the mechanisms involved is the first step towards understanding electron scattering in more complex dielectrics. The scattering of electrons in dielectric materials is central to laser nanomachining 1 , light-driven electronics 2 and radiation damage 3 , 4 , 5 . Here, we demonstrate real-time access to electron scattering by implementing attosecond streaking spectroscopy on dielectric nanoparticles: photoelectrons are generated inside the nanoparticles and both their transport through the material and photoemission are tracked on an attosecond timescale. We develop a theoretical framework for attosecond streaking spectroscopy in dielectrics and identify that the presence of the internal field inside the material cancels the influence of elastic scattering, enabling the selective characterization of the inelastic scattering time. The approach is demonstrated on silica nanoparticles, where an inelastic mean-free path is extracted for 20–30 eV. Our approach enables the characterization of inelastic scattering in various dielectric solids and liquids, including water, which can be studied in the form of droplets.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/nphys4129