Jitter-correction for IR/UV-XUV pump-probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser

New journal of physics 19(4), 043009(2017). doi:10.1088/1367-2630/aa652d
In pump-probe experiments employing a free-electron laser (FEL) in combination with a synchronized optical femtosecond laser, the arrival-time jitter between the FEL pulse and the optical laser pulse often severely limits the temporal resolution that can be achieved. Here, we present a pump-probe experiment on the UV-induced dissociation of 2,6-difluoroiodobenzene $(C_{6}H_{3}F_{2}I)$ molecules performed at the FLASH FEL that takes advantage of recent upgrades of the FLASH timing and synchronization system to obtain high-quality data that are not limited by the FEL arrival-time jitter. We discuss in detail the necessary data analysis steps and describe the origin of the time-dependent effects in the yields and kinetic energies of the fragment ions that we observe in the experiment.
Published by IOP Publ. , Bad Honnef