Attosecond Intramolecular-Scattering and Vibronic Delay

Abstract

The photoionization of the CO molecule from the C−1s orbital does not obey the Franck-Condon approximation, as a consequence of the nuclear recoil that accompanies the direct emission and intra-molecular scattering of the photoelectron. We use an analytical model to investigate the temporal signature of the entangled nuclear and electronic motion in this process. We show that the photoelectron emission delay can be decomposed into its localization and resonant-confinement components. Finally, photoionization by a broadband soft-x-ray pulse results in a coherent vibrational ionic state with a tunable delay with respect to the classical sudden-photoemission limit.