XUV coherent spectroscopy

Free Electron Laser technology is nowadays developing extremely fast and the possibility to have fully coherent pulses in the Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) and soft x-ray is becoming a reality. FERMI@Elettra is the proof of principle that table-top laser experiments can now be carried out at much shorter wavelengths making possible to probe dynamical processes occurring in molecular and nanostructured materials with an unprecedented time-space (femtosecond-nanometer) resolution. Indeed, the use of high energy photons allows stimulating and probing electronic transitions from core levels thus providing chemical selectivity. This will advance our knowledge to the very essence of materials science, chemistry, and biology, thus opening the way to future technologies that cannot even be foreseen today.