{"id":{"repo_id":"birmingham","oai_identifier":"oai:etheses.bham.ac.uk:563"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/birmingham/oai:etheses.bham.ac.uk:563","repository":{"repo_id":"birmingham","name":"University of Birmingham","base_url":"https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Photoelectron Spectroscopy of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite using intense ultrashort laser pulses","abstract":"This thesis describes photoelectron emission measurements made at the surface of Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) using ultrashort laser pulses. It concentrates on the observation and understanding of a new phenomenon whereby infrared laser pulses of just 1.5eV photon energy can be used to generate photoelectrons with kinetic energies of up to 80eV. Intensity dependence measurements depict a highly nonlinear excitation process and for p-polarised light observations can be explained by a high-order multiphoton excitation mechanism. Comparisons with photoelectron spectra taken using XUV pulse trains show a striking resemblance suggesting that the same final states excited by multiple IR pulses can also be reached by a single XUV photon. Interferometric autocorrelation measurements of the photoemission signal show increasingly high nonlinearity at greater photoelectron energies and a simulation of the interferometric data constructed using Optical Bloch Equations agreed with experiments showing that in the highly non-linear regime the autocorrelation shape depends almost exclusively on the nonlinearity of the excitation. XUV-IR pumpprobe measurements are also presented and the technical difficulties of such measurements discussed. Finally a novel technique of velocity map imaging of photoemission from a surface has been demonstrated for the first time at the HOPG surface.","abstract_html":"This thesis describes photoelectron emission measurements made at the surface of Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) using ultrashort laser pulses. It concentrates on the observation and understanding of a new phenomenon whereby infrared laser pulses of just 1.5eV photon energy can be used to generate photoelectrons with kinetic energies of up to 80eV. Intensity dependence measurements depict a highly nonlinear excitation process and for p-polarised light observations can be explained by a high-order multiphoton excitation mechanism. Comparisons with photoelectron spectra taken using XUV pulse trains show a striking resemblance suggesting that the same final states excited by multiple IR pulses can also be reached by a single XUV photon. Interferometric autocorrelation measurements of the photoemission signal show increasingly high nonlinearity at greater photoelectron energies and a simulation of the interferometric data constructed using Optical Bloch Equations agreed with experiments showing that in the highly non-linear regime the autocorrelation shape depends almost exclusively on the nonlinearity of the excitation. XUV-IR pumpprobe measurements are also presented and the technical difficulties of such measurements discussed. Finally a novel technique of velocity map imaging of photoemission from a surface has been demonstrated for the first time at the HOPG surface.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Catton, Emma Louise"],"institution":"University of Birmingham","degree_name":"d_ph","degree_level":"d_ph","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-07","date_published":"2010-07","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:11:02Z","subjects":["QC Physics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["na"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Catton, Emma Louise"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2010-07"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2010-07"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["College of Engineering & Physical Sciences","School of Physics and Astronomy"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Birmingham"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/563/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["d_ph"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["d_ph"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["QC Physics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/563/1/catton10PhD.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis describes photoelectron emission measurements made at the surface of Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) using ultrashort laser pulses. It concentrates on the observation and understanding of a new phenomenon whereby infrared laser pulses of just 1.5eV photon energy can be used to generate photoelectrons with kinetic energies of up to 80eV. Intensity dependence measurements depict a highly nonlinear excitation process and for p-polarised light observations can be explained by a high-order multiphoton excitation mechanism. Comparisons with photoelectron spectra taken using XUV pulse trains show a striking resemblance suggesting that the same final states excited by multiple IR pulses can also be reached by a single XUV photon. Interferometric autocorrelation measurements of the photoemission signal show increasingly high nonlinearity at greater photoelectron energies and a simulation of the interferometric data constructed using Optical Bloch Equations agreed with experiments showing that in the highly non-linear regime the autocorrelation shape depends almost exclusively on the nonlinearity of the excitation. XUV-IR pumpprobe measurements are also presented and the technical difficulties of such measurements discussed. Finally a novel technique of velocity map imaging of photoemission from a surface has been demonstrated for the first time at the HOPG surface."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Photoelectron Spectroscopy of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite using intense ultrashort laser pulses"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.sponsor":["na"],"dc:creator":["Catton, Emma Louise"],"dc:date":["2010-07"],"dc:date.issued":["2010-07"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis describes photoelectron emission measurements made at the surface of Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) using ultrashort laser pulses. It concentrates on the observation and understanding of a new phenomenon whereby infrared laser pulses of just 1.5eV photon energy can be used to generate photoelectrons with kinetic energies of up to 80eV. Intensity dependence measurements depict a highly nonlinear excitation process and for p-polarised light observations can be explained by a high-order multiphoton excitation mechanism. Comparisons with photoelectron spectra taken using XUV pulse trains show a striking resemblance suggesting that the same final states excited by multiple IR pulses can also be reached by a single XUV photon. Interferometric autocorrelation measurements of the photoemission signal show increasingly high nonlinearity at greater photoelectron energies and a simulation of the interferometric data constructed using Optical Bloch Equations agreed with experiments showing that in the highly non-linear regime the autocorrelation shape depends almost exclusively on the nonlinearity of the excitation. XUV-IR pumpprobe measurements are also presented and the technical difficulties of such measurements discussed. Finally a novel technique of velocity map imaging of photoemission from a surface has been demonstrated for the first time at the HOPG surface."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/563/1/catton10PhD.pdf"],"dc:publisher.department":["College of Engineering & Physical Sciences","School of Physics and Astronomy"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Birmingham"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/563/"],"dc:subject":["QC Physics"],"dc:title":["Photoelectron Spectroscopy of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite using intense ultrashort laser pulses"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["d_ph"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["d_ph"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:11:02Z"}