Steering electrons with extreme ultraviolet light—team achieves quantum coherent control
Light is one of the most powerful tools scientists have for probing matter. By interacting with electrons, light reveals how atoms, molecules and materials are structured and how they evolve in time. Highly energetic ultraviolet and X-ray photons are particularly attractive because they can access electrons located close to atomic nuclei, where each chemical element carries its own distinctive…
Scientists have achieved a significant breakthrough in controlling electrons using extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light. This advance could revolutionize our ability to probe and manipulate matter at the atomic level. The research, conducted by an international team of physicists, demonstrates that XUV light can be used to control electron behavior in a quantum mechanical way.
By creating two competing pathways for exciting a bound state in helium, the researchers were able to control whether these pathways reinforced or canceled each other out. The key to this control lies in adjusting the phase of the XUV light pulses, which determines whether the two pathways add up or cancel each other. This technique, known as stimulated Raman excitation, has traditionally been limited to the visible and infrared light spectrum.
However, the researchers have now extended this capability to the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This opens up new possibilities for imaging and manipulating matter with unprecedented spatial resolution. The experiment was carried out at the FERMI free-electron laser in Trieste, Italy, one of only a few facilities worldwide capable of generating the intense and highly controlled extreme-ultraviolet light required for this study.
The findings, published in Nature Photonics, suggest that this new method could lead to the development of advanced element-specific imaging and spectroscopy tools. These tools would be capable of tracking electronic motion and chemical transformations at the smallest scales, providing a deeper understanding of the fundamental properties of matter.
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