Photoelectron diffraction from laser-aligned molecules with X-ray free-electron laser pulses

Nakajima, Kyo*; Teramoto, Takahiro*; Akagi, Hiroshi; Fujikawa, Takashi*; Majima, Takuya*; Minemoto, Shinichiro*; Ogawa, Kanade*; Sakai, Hirofumi*; Togashi, Tadashi*; Tono, Kensuke*; Tsuru, Shota*; Wada, Ken*; Yabashi, Makina*; Yagishita, Akira*

We report on the measurement of deep inner-shell 2p X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) patterns from laser-aligned I molecules using X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) pulses. The XPD patterns of the I molecules, aligned parallel to the polarization vector of the XFEL, were well matched with our theoretical calculations. Further, we propose a criterion for applying our molecular-structure-determination methodology to the experimental XPD data. In turn, we have demonstrated that this approach is a significant step toward the time-resolved imaging of molecular structures.