In this sub-project we want to exploit the high harmonic generation (HHG) process as a self-probing mechanism of the complex dynamics launched in a LC molecular system. This approach will allow the sampling not only of the energy redistribution among all vibrational modes and their degree of coherence, but also of any electronic redistribution within the LC molecule at time scales never attempted before. This exceptional sensitivity of the HHG mechanism comes from the fact that the pump and probe are the ionization and recollision steps constituting the HHG process itself.  Since the LC state is characterized by molecular orientational and positional order, phase transitions are expected, in fact, to modify the interaction parameters between neighboring excited and non-excited molecules, thus the recombination process will be highly modified and mirrored in the measured HHG spectra.

See our latest results:

A. Annuziata, L. Becker, M. L. Murillo-Sánchez, P. Friebel, D. Faccialà, C. Vozzi and L. Cattaneo “High harmonic generation in thermotropic liquid crystals" arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.10211(2023). DOI:https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10211