Ultrafast charge transfer and nuclear dynamics studied with resonant X-ray spectroscopy

In complex systems, composed from many atomic units, it is of equal importance to determine the time scales of dynamic processes and to have control at which atomic site a dynamic process was initiated. With resonant X-ray spectroscopic tools like autoionization and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, an atomically localized excited state can be created and its dynamics monitored in comparison to the ultrafast time scale of the transient core-hole resonance. With this core-hole-clock method, charge transfer dynamics of only 320 +/- 90 attoseconds could be determined for Sulphur adsorbed on the Ru(0001) surface, extending the core-hole-clock method into the range of attoseconds. Exploiting the symmetry selection rules of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, ultrafast atomic motion can also be investigated, which changes the molecular symmetry during a transient core-excited state. With this approach the vibrational dynamics of C2H4 on the time scale of a Carbon 1s core-hole resonance has been investigated.