Speaker
Description
Progress in nanoscience increasingly depends on our ability to control light at spatial and temporal scales matching those characteristic of nanostructures. In particular, controlling the polarization of light is essential for investigating materials whose properties depend not only on light intensity, but also on the specific orientation of the electric field. Such polarization-sensitive effects are central to the behavior of magnetic and chiral materials, which are of great interest across condensed matter physics, chemistry, and materials science.
However, unlike in the visible and hard-X ray wavelenghts, no diffractive optics are available to tune light polarization in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV). To overcome this limitation, we have combined the unique TIMER instrument at the FERMI free electron laser with a tailored configuration of the FEL, to create to create periodic, polarization modulations at the nanoscale and demonstrate its capabilities by comparing the dynamics induced by this polarization transient grating with those driven by a conventional intensity grating on a thin ferrimagnetic alloy. While the intensity grating signal is dominated by the thermoelastic response, the polarization grating excitation minimizes it, uncovering helicity-dependent responses previously undetected.
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