Mitzner, R.; Sorokin, A. A.; Siemer, B.; Roling, S.; Rutkowski, M.; Zacharias, H.; Neeb, M.; Noll, T.; Siewert, F.; Eberhardt, W.; Richter, M.; Juranic, P.; Tiedtke, K.; Feldhaus, J.: Direct autocorrelation of soft-x-ray free-electron-laser pulses by time-resolved two-photon double ionization of He. Physical Review A 80 (2009), p. 025402/1-4
10.1103/PhysRevA.80.025402
Abstract:
The pulse duration of soft x-ray free-electron laser (FEL) radiation is directly measured by time-resolved observation of doubly charged helium ions at 51.8 eV. A wave front splitting autocorrelator produces two correlated FEL pulses with a resolution of better than a femtosecond. In the interesting intensity range from 1013 to 1016 W/cm2 direct and sequential double ionization contribute to the ion yield which has significant influence on the correlation width, being a general feature at high photon energies. Here, a duration of τL=(29±5) fs is derived for the soft x-ray pulses at FLASH.