Article
Nature 419, 803-807 (24 October 2002) | doi:10.1038/nature01143; Received 5 August 2002; Accepted 20 September 2002
Time-resolved atomic inner-shell spectroscopy
M. Drescher1,2, M. Hentschel1, R. Kienberger1, M. Uiberacker1, V. Yakovlev1, A. Scrinzi1, Th. Westerwalbesloh2, U. Kleineberg2, U. Heinzmann2 and F. Krausz1
- Institut für Photonik, Technische Universität Wien, Gusshausstrasse 27, A-1040 Wien, Austria
- Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Universitätsstrasse 25, D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany
Correspondence to: M. Drescher1,2F. Krausz1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.D. (e-mail: Email: drescher@physik.uni-bielefeld.de) or F.K. (e-mail: Email: ferenc.krausz@tuwien.ac.at).
Abstract
The characteristic time constants of the relaxation dynamics of core-excited atoms have hitherto been inferred from the linewidths of electronic transitions measured by continuous-wave extreme ultraviolet or X-ray spectroscopy. Here we demonstrate that a laser-based sampling system, consisting of a few-femtosecond visible light pulse and a synchronized sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulse, allows us to trace these dynamics directly in the time domain with attosecond resolution. We have measured a lifetime of 7.9-0.9+1.0 fs of M-shell vacancies of krypton in such a pump–probe experiment.