Shedding light on the electronic structure of atoms, molecules and clusters

Spectroscopic investigations on the electronic structure of matter routinely profit from the continuous advances in laser and synchrotron radiation instrumentation. At the Elettra synchrotron radiation laboratory (Trieste, I) the Gas Phase beamline [1] currently enables thorough studies of the energetics of isolated system by means of photoionization techniques and inner-shell electron photoionization, even with low density targets such as vapours of biomolecules [2] and clusters [3]. More recently the interest of the Elettra physical chemistry-chemical physics community has been attracted by the opportunity of exploring the temporal dynamics of isolated systems by means of novel state-of-the-art light sources. For this purpose two new beamlines capable of delivering ultrafast VUV photon pulses are currently under commissioning in the framework of the FERMI@Elettra Free Electron Laser (FEL) project: the Low Density Matter beamline at FERMI [4] and CITIUS [5], a state-of-the-art fs-VUV source, based on laser High Harmonic Generation on rare gases. I will discuss recent experiments where photoionization techniques have been applied to gas phase molecular targets of increasing complexity, ranging from molecules of biological interest, to metal-containing molecules and clusters. I will also outline research opportunities opened in the field of atomic, molecular and cluster physics by these novel ultrafast light sources. References [1] K.C. Prince, et al J. Synch. Rad. 5, 565-568 (1998) See also at www.elettra.trieste.it/beamlines/GAPH/ [2] O. Plekan, et al. J. Phys. Chem. A 116 (2012) 5653; DOI: 10.1021/jp300459p [3] T. Mazza, M. Devetta, P. Milani, G. Bongiorno, M. Coreno, P. Piseri, New J. Phys. 13 (2011) 023009; DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/13/2/023009 [4] www.elettra.trieste.it/lightsources/fermi/fermi-beamlines/ldm/ldmhome-page.html [5] www.elettra.trieste.it/lightsources/labs-and-services/citius/citius.html