Filming ultrafast migration reactions with the FEL pump-probe approach

摘要

The migration of nuclei within a photonexcited molecule often triggers primary and important bio-chemical reactions like in photosynthesis, in eye vision, and even in immunity and viral infection (HIV isomerization). At the ultra-brilliant Free Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) we used a combination of a multi-hit reaction-microscope (REMI) and a dedicated XUV split-and-delay mirror to directly follow, as a function of the pump-probe delay time, the light-induced isomerization dynamics in single acetylene molecules.