Two-color experiments in the gas phase at FLASH

Intense ultra-short XUV-pulses from the Free Electron Laser in Hamburg (FLASH) were used in combination with the synchronized near-infrared (NIR) radiation from a femtosecond laser to perform two-color experiments on rare gas atoms and small molecules. Results of atomic photoionization in the presence of a NIR dressing field are presented and discussed for the low field regime, i.e. for intensities of less than 10(11) W/cm(2). In particular, the analysis of two-color Above Threshold Ionization (ATI) as a function of the relative orientation of the polarization vectors of both photon beams provided detailed information about the partial photoionization crosssections by comparing the experimental results with theoretical values obtained by employing second-order perturbation theory and the soft-photon approximation. Furthermore, a first time-resolved study was performed on the photodissociation of molecular hydrogen. In this proof-of-principle experiment, the excited atomic fragments, produced in the primary interaction with the intense XUV pulse, are probed by a time delayed NIR laser pulse that ionizes these fragments. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.