Probing the Dynamics of Rydberg and Valence States of Molecular Nitrogen with Attosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy.

Abstract

An attosecond pulse is used to create a wavepacket in molecular nitrogen composed of multiple bound and autoionizing electronic states of Rydberg and valence character between 12 and 16.7 eV. A time-delayed, few-femtosecond, near-infrared (NIR) laser pulse is used to couple individual states in the wavepacket to multiple neighboring states, resulting in time-dependent modification of the absorption spectrum and revealing both individual quantum beats of the wavepacket and the energy shifts of the excited states in the presence of the strong NIR field. The broad bandwidth of the attosecond pulse and high energy resolution of the extreme ultraviolet spectrometer allow the simultaneous observation of time-dependent dynamics for many individual vibrational levels in each electronic state. Quantum beating with periods from 1.3 to 12 fs and transient line shape changes are observed among vibrational levels of a progression of electronically autoionizing Rydberg states leading to the excited A (2)Πu N2(+) ion core. Vibrational levels in the valence b (1)Πu state exhibit 50 fs oscillation periods, revealing superpositions between individual vibrational levels within this state. Comparisons are made to previous studies of electronic wavepackets in atoms that highlight similarities to atomic behavior yet illustrate unique contributions of the diatomic molecular structure to the wavepacket, including the influence of different electronic potentials and vibrational-level-specific electronic dynamics.