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abstracts
Ultrashort hard x-ray pulses are sensitive probes of structural dynamics on the picometer length and femtosecond time scales of electronic and atomic motions. Using short hard x-ray pulses as probe in a pump-probe scheme allow to do femtosecond x-ray diffraction experiments [1], which provide transient electron density maps at a femtosecond timescale with a sub-angstrom spatial resolution. In a typical femtosecond x-ray powder diffraction experiment many Debye-Scherrer rings, up to a maximum diffraction angle 2θmax, are recorded for each time delay between the optical pump and the hard x-ray probe. From the diffraction pattern, the change of the diffracted intensity of each rings are monitored. The interference of diffracted x-rays from the many unexcited cells, with known structure factors coming from steady-state measurement, and diffracted x-rays from the few excited cells allows for the detection of the transients structure factors. Problems could arise if the 3D-Fourier transform is directly used because of the abrupt end of the collected information in the reciprocal space (maximum diffraction angle 2θmax). In order to overcome this problem, the Maximum Entropy Method is apply to the data and the transient electron density maps are derived. We apply the femtosecond x-ray powder diffraction technique and the Maximum Entropy Method to study the induced transient polarization by high optical fields on ionic crystals. Such polarizations are connected to a spatial redistribution of electronic charge, which corresponds to a charge transfer between the two ionic compounds [2]. While the charge transfer originates from the anion to the cation in the LiBH and the NaBH4, the LiH exhibits a peculiar behavior: the charge transfer occurs from the cation to the anion. As result from comparison with calculations in the COHSEX framework, this behavior is due to the strong electronic correlations in the LiH [3].
abstracts
Relocation of electronic charge plays a key role for functional processes in condensed-phase molecular materials. X-ray diffraction with a femtosecond time resolution allows for spatially resolving transient atomic arrangements and charge distributions [1]. In particular, time-dependent spatial maps of electron density have been derived from x-ray powder diffraction patterns measured with a 100 fs time resolution. In this talk, new results on electron dynamics in transition metal complexes and on field-driven charge relocations in elementary ionic materials will be presented. Crystals containing a dense array of Fe(II)-tris(bipyridine) complexes and their PF6 counterions display pronounced changes of electron density that occur within the first 100 fs after two photon excitation of a small fraction of the complexes [2]. Electron density maps reveal a transfer of electronic charge from the Fe atoms and - so far unknown - from the PF6 counterions to the bipyridine units. The charge transfer displays pronounced Coulomb-mediated many-body features, affecting approximately 30 complexes around the directly excited one. As a second topic, electron relocations induced by strong external optical fields will be discussed [1,3]. This interaction mechanism allows for generating coherent superpositions of valence and conduction band quantum states and inducing fully reversible charge dynamics. While the materials LiBH4 and NaBH4 display electron relocations from the (BH4)- ions to the neighboring Li+ and Na+ ions, LiH exhibits an electron transfer from Li to H. The latter is a manifestation of electron correlations and in agreement with theoretical calculations.
