Understanding how electronic dynamics unfold in complex environments is a central challenge in modern molecular science. While attosecond techniques have revolutionised our ability to observe electron motion in atoms and isolated molecules, extending these approaches to condensed-phase systems—particularly liquids—remains largely unexplored. This gap limits our understanding of fundamental processes such as electron scattering, decoherence, and energy transfer in realistic chemical and biological environments.
The SATTOC project addresses this challenge by developing and applying new attosecond spectroscopic tools to probe molecular and electronic dynamics in the liquid phase. The primary objective is to observe, with attosecond temporal resolution, how electrons evolve, scatter, and lose coherence when interacting with a fluctuating molecular environment. Achieving this requires overcoming major technological barriers, including the generation of reliable few-cycle and attosecond pulses, the combination of these sources with liquid sample delivery, and the development of appropriate detection and analysis methodologies.
To meet these objectives, the project develops a new attosecond transient absorption beamline tailored for liquids and advances attosecond photoemission techniques, notably RABBIT interferometry, to access time-resolved electron scattering and decoherence. These experimental developments are accompanied by original theoretical modelling that explicitly incorporates stochastic dynamics and open quantum system behaviour, enabling quantitative interpretation of the measurements.
The expected impact of the project is both methodological and scientific. Methodologically, SATTOC establishes a new experimental and theoretical framework for attosecond spectroscopy in liquids. Scientifically, it provides unprecedented insight into electron dynamics in condensed matter, bridging the gap between gas-phase attosecond science and real-world chemical systems. In the longer term, these advances are expected to influence a broad range of fields, from radiation chemistry and photochemistry to materials science, by enabling time-resolved studies of electronic processes in complex environments.
