MRI: Acquisition of a TPX3Cam for High-Rate Coincidence Velocity Map Imaging

一般观众摘要：这个主要研究仪器奖资助购买混合硅像素探测器和集成电子设备，称为TPX3Cam，供五个机构合作使用：奥古斯塔纳大学、玛丽华盛顿大学、弗吉尼亚大学、密歇根州立大学和堪萨斯州立大学。合作中的研究人员有一个共同的兴趣，那就是使用TPX3Cam进行复杂的实验，探测分子与强、超短激光脉冲的相互作用。长期以来，在原子、分子和化学物理中观察和控制原子和分子的自然时间尺度一直是一个巨大的挑战。此外，随着混合硅像素探测器的广泛使用，处理来自探测器的信息的协议和方法的开发可以加速该工具向科学、医学和工程的其他领域的传播。值得注意的是，TPX3Cam的集体使用将促进奥古斯塔纳大学和玛丽华盛顿大学之间的合作，这两所学校主要服务于本科生群体，以及参与合作的三所大型研究型大学。这些努力将使本科生接触到前沿的实验设施和研究工作，从而继续推动对STEM相关教育的追求，并最终帮助培养一支高技能的劳动力。技术观众摘要：TPX3Cam将被用于对多个粒子进行关联测量，从而重建分子动力学。当与超快激光光源相结合时，这些实验将探测多原子分子的电离和结构演化，这些分子是复杂量子系统的例子。由于混合像素探测器的工作方式与其他带电粒子探测器完全不同，因此TPX3Cam仪器将把这些照明测量扩展到使用标准延迟线阳极技术不易访问的情况。用这种新仪器进行的例子包括强场电离和分子的相干控制。分子的强场电离(SFI)导致了涉及电子和核运动耦合的复杂动力学，通常需要关联的电子动力学，并被用作分子结构和动力学的探针。SFI还通过创建电子波包来实现阿秒科学，随后电子波包被驱动与其母原子或分子重新碰撞，导致阿秒光爆发。因此，SFI研究有许多基本的和应用驱动的原因。多原子分子中的强场过程处于长达数十年的相干控制化学反应追求的前沿。利用整形超快激光脉冲的强场相干控制方法是影响化学动力学的一般方法，因为它们可以利用动态斯塔克位移和多光子过程来改变能量流。这些强场控制方法可以通过针对非常具体的控制结果进行改进，这些控制结果利用了TPX3摄像机的独特检测能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

General audience abstract:This Major Research Instrumentation award funds the acquisition of a hybrid silicon pixel detector and integrated electronics, known as a TPX3Cam, for use by a collaboration of five institutions: Augustana University, the University of Mary Washington, the University of Virginia, Michigan State University, and Kansas State University. Researchers in the collaboration share a common interest in using the TPX3Cam to enable sophisticated experiments that probe the interactions of molecules with intense, ultrashort laser pulses. Observing and controlling atoms and molecules at their native timescales has long been a grand challenge in atomic, molecular, and chemical physics. Moreover, as hybrid silicon pixel detectors emerge into wider use, the development of protocols and methods for processing the information from the detector can accelerate the spread of this tool into other areas of science, medicine, and engineering. Notably, the collective use of the TPX3Cam will foster collaborations between Augustana University and the University of Mary Washington, schools that primarily serve undergraduate student populations, and the three large research universities in the collaboration. These efforts will expose undergraduate students to forefront experimental facilities and research efforts and thereby continue to motivate the pursuit of STEM-related education and eventually help produce a highly-skilled workforce.Technical audience abstract: The TPX3Cam will be used to make correlated measurements of multiple particles and thus the reconstruction of molecular dynamics. When coupled with ultrafast laser sources, the experiments will probe the ionization and structural evolution of polyatomic molecules, which are examples of complex quantum systems. Since hybrid pixel detectors operate in a fundamentally different manner than other charged particle detectors, the TPX3Cam instrument will extend these illuminating measurements to situations not easily accessed with standard delay-line anode technology. Examples to be conducted with this new instrumentation include strong field ionization and coherent control of molecules. Strong field ionization (SFI) of molecules results in complex dynamics involving coupled electronic and nuclear motion, often entails correlated electron dynamics, and is used as a probe for molecular structure and dynamics. SFI also enables attosecond science by creating the electron wave packet that subsequently is driven to recollide with its parent atom or molecule, resulting in an attosecond burst of light. Thus, there are numerous basic and application-driven reasons for SFI studies. Strong-field processes in polyatomic molecules are at the forefront of the decades-long pursuit of coherently controlled chemical reactions. Strong-field coherent control methods using shaped ultrafast laser pulses are a general approach to influencing chemical dynamics since they can exploit dynamic Stark shifts and multiphoton processes to alter energy flow. These strong-field control methods can be improved by targeting very specific control outcomes that exploit the unique detection capabilities of the TPX3Cam.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.