After converting the VMI in the Red Dragon lab to an ion time-of-flight
spectrometer, it is currently used to investigate those inelastic
electron recollisions, which lead to fragmentation. Inelastic
recollisions lead to electron-electron interactions in the outer shell
of the molecule and investigating them is one of the objectives of
attosecond science.
In the lab, we are trying to find out if the recollision induced
fragmentation of N2 depends on the alignment of the molecule, or in
other words if fragmentation is more probable if the electron hits the
molecule parallel or perpendicular with respect to the bond.
I will give a detailed description of the required experimental steps to
find an answer to that question and present a few intermediate results.
I will try to raise a few questions about the setup and future plans to
get input from the group.
Most of the experimental issues are mentioned in the following paper, written by a very familiar Irish man:
http://pra.aps.org/abstract/PRA/v73/i4/e043401
Nevertheless, I will briefly discuss them during the meeting as well.
PPT slides to follow...