Imaging density disturbances in water with 41.3 attosecond time resolution

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates real-time imaging of density disturbances in water with 41.3 attosecond resolution using inelastic x-ray scattering, enabling detailed study of ultrafast processes in liquids.

Contribution

It introduces a method to invert the loss function of inelastic x-ray scattering for attosecond resolution imaging of density disturbances in water.

Findings

Achieved 41.3 attosecond temporal resolution in imaging water density disturbances.

Applied the technique to determine electron cloud structure around molecules in solution.

Generated water wake profiles from high-energy ion interactions.

Abstract

We show that the momentum flexibility of inelastic x-ray scattering may be exploited to invert its loss function, alowing real time imaging of density disturbances in a medium. We show the disturbance arising from a point source in liquid water, with a resolution of 41.3 attoseconds ($4.13 \times 10^{-17}$ sec) and 1.27 $\AA$ ($1.27 \times 10^{-8}$ cm). This result is used to determine the structure of the electron cloud around a photoexcited molecule in solution, as well as the wake generated in water by a 9 MeV gold ion. We draw an analogy with pump-probe techniques and suggest that energy-loss scattering may be applied more generally to the study of attosecond phenomena.