%0 Journal Article
%A Månsson, Erik P.
%A Latini, Simone
%A Covito, Fabio
%A Wanie, Vincent
%A Galli, Mara
%A Perfetto, Enrico
%A Stefanucci, Gianluca
%A Huebener, Hannes
%A De Giovannini, Umberto
%A Castrovilli, Mattea C.
%A Trabattoni, Andrea
%A Frassetto, Fabio
%A Poletto, Luca
%A Greenwood, Jason B.
%A Légaré, François
%A Nisoli, Mauro
%A Rubio, Angel
%A Calegari, Francesca
%T Real-time observation of a correlation-driven sub 3 fs charge migration in ionised adenine
%J Communications chemistry
%V 4
%N 1
%@ 2399-3669
%C [London]
%I Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
%M PUBDB-2021-01737
%P 73
%D 2021
%X Sudden ionisation of a relatively large molecule can initiate a correlation-driven process dubbed charge migration, where the electron density distribution is expected to rapidly move along the molecular backbone. Capturing this few-femtosecond or attosecond charge redistribution would represent the real-time observation of electron correlation in a molecule with the enticing prospect of following the energy flow from a single excited electron to the other coupled electrons in the system. Here, we report a time-resolved study of the correlation-driven charge migration process occurring in the nucleic-acid base adenine after ionisation with a 15–35 eV attosecond pulse. We find that the production of intact doubly charged adenine – via a shortly-delayed laser-induced second ionisation event – represents the signature of a charge inflation mechanism resulting from many-body excitation. This conclusion is supported by first-principles time-dependent simulations. These findings may contribute to the control of molecular reactivity at the electronic, few-femtosecond time scale.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ 36697766
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000657057300002
%R 10.1038/s42004-021-00510-5
%U https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/456891