[en] The dynamics of depletion and recovery of a superconducting state in La_2-xSr_xCuO₄ thin films is investigated utilizing optical pump-probe and optical pump-THz-probe techniques as a function of temperature and excitation fluence. The absorbed energy density required to suppress superconductivity is found to be about eight times higher than the thermodynamically determined condensation energy density and nearly temperature independent between 4 and 25 K. These findings indicate that, during the time when the superconducting state suppression takes place (∼0.7 ps), a large part (nearly 90%) of the energy is transferred to the phonons with energy lower than twice the maximum value of the superconducting gap and only 10% is spent on Cooper pair breaking.

[en] Clusters excited by intense laser pulses are a unique source of warm dense matter, that has been the subject of intensive experimental studies. The majority of these investigations concern atomic clusters, whereas the evolution of molecular clusters excited by intense laser pulses is less explored. In this work we trace the dynamics of CO₂ clusters triggered by a few-cycle 1.45 μm driving pulse through the detection of XUV fluorescence induced by a delayed 800 nm ignition pulse. Striking differences among fluorescence dynamics from different ionic species are observed. (paper)

[en] In the present paper, the ultrafast electronic relaxation of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) initiated around 4 eV is studied by femtosecond time-resolved velocity-map imaging. The goal is to investigate the broad double structure observed in the absorption spectrum at this energy. By monitoring the transients of the parent cation and its fragments and by varying the pump and the probe wavelengths, two internal conversions and intramolecular vibrational relaxation are detected both on the order of a few hundred of femtoseconds. Photoelectron images permit the assignment of a dark electronic state involved in the relaxation. In addition, the formation of the dimer of TTF has been observed