Towards Time-Resolved Atomic Structure Determination by X-Ray Standing Waves at a Free-Electron Laser

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of standing wave techniques at a free-electron laser to achieve high-precision, time-resolved atomic structure determination of surfaces, enabling insights into chemical reactions and material dynamics.

Contribution

It shows the feasibility of using high-repetition-rate free-electron lasers for time-resolved atomic structure analysis with picometer and femtosecond resolution.

Findings

Successful measurement of photoelectron yield from SiO2 surfaces

Potential to achieve picometer spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution

Application to studying surface reactions and superconductor dynamics

Abstract

We demonstrate the structural sensitivity and accuracy of the standing wave technique at a high repetition rate free-electron laser, FLASH at DESY in Hamburg, by measuring the photoelectron yield from the surface SiO2 of Mo/Si multilayers. These experiments open up the possibility to obtain unprecedented structural information of adsorbate and surface atoms with picometer spatial accuracy and femtosecond temporal resolution. This technique will substantially contribute to a fundamental understanding of chemical reactions at catalytic surfaces and the structural dynamics of superconductors.