Imaging electron dynamics in atoms and molecules is nowadays feasible thanks to the availability of coherent light sources offering sub-femtosecond time resolution [1]. The most successful experimental approaches use an ultrashort pulse in the VUV/XUV region to trigger molecular excitation [2] or ionization [3,4], whose dynamics is then probed by the time-delayed interaction with an IR field. The present talk will discuss the state-of-the-art of recently developed theoretical methods that are able to provide a reliable description of ultrafast processes in molecules ranging from H₂/D₂ [2-4] to amino acids [5-8], with special focus on current progress and applications to ionized molecular systems. 

References

[1] F. Krausz and M. Y. Ivanov, Rev. Mod. Phys. 81, 163 (2009); F. Krausz Phys. Scr. 91, 063011 (2016)

[2] P. Ranitovic et al., PNAS 111, 912 (2014);

[3] P. A. Carpeggiani et al., Phys. Rev. A 89, 023420 (2014); G. Sansone et al., Nature 465, 763 (2010)

[4] A. Palacios et al., PNAS 111, 3973 (2014)

[5] F. Calegari et al., Science 346, 336 (2014); M. Nisoli et al., Chem. Rev. 117, 10760 (2017)

[6] L. Cederbaum and J. Zobeley, CPL 307, 205 (1999); A. I. Kuleff et al., JCP 123, 044111 (2005)

[7] F. Remacle and R. D. Levine, PNAS 103, 6793 (2006)

[8] M. Vacher et al., J. Chem. Phys. 140, 201102 (2014)