Speaker: Nora Berrah, Physics Department, Western Michigan University
Nora Berrah is a WMU Distinguished University Professor. She received her Ph.D. in Physics in May 1987 from the University of Virginia, and her thesis title was “Laser Photodetachement of HS- Trapped in a Penning Trap”. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Argonne National Laboratory for 2 years and an assistant scientist for 2.5 years before moving in the fall of 1991 to WMU as an assistant professor.
Program Description:
Short x-ray pulses from free electron lasers (FEL) open a new investigation regime for all scientific research. The first x-ray FEL, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Laboratory on the Stanford campus provides intense short pulses that allow the investigation and understanding in atoms, molecules and clusters of fundamental physics such as non-linear and multi-photon processes, including multiple core-holes. These processes should occur in larger molecules such as biomolecules and in solid system.
The response of molecular and cluster systems to the ultra-intense, femtosecond x-ray radiation was investigated. Sequential multiphoton ionization, frustrated absorption, double core hole production mechanisms in molecules and formation of nanoplasmas in clusters, as well as current and future plans, will be presented.
