Johan Chau Söderström

My main research interest is the fundamental interaction between X-rays and small molecular systems, which I use to probe the electronic structure of atoms ans molecules - the building blocks of out universe.

I am interested in fundamental phenomena, which has previously been obscured (or not even possible to see) in our measurements since our tools have not been powerful enough. With the recent development in instrumentation a new era of fundamental atomic and molecular science is on the verge

Ever since I started my Ph. D. studies I have been interested in isolated atoms and molecules, that is matter in the gaseous phase as well as developing instruments for performing new science.

As a Ph. D. student I developed a new type of spectroscopy called XETECO, for the studies of gaseuos species. This is all well described in my thesis here.

Then, as a Post Doc I worked together with Catalin Miron in the finalisation of the PLEIADES beamline at the synchrotron SOLEIL in Paris. This beamline is also ment for studies of gaseous species.

When I had finished my Post Doc I continued my interest in advancing science through building new equipment - this time at Uppsala University where I have been building the HELIOS laboratory which is an HHG laboratory for studies of dynamics in matter. The HELIOS laboratory is described in some detail here.

At HELIOS I am involved in all projects, however my main interest still lies in the study of free atoms and molecules and dynamics in these systems.

As HELIOS is now an operational lab run by technical staff I am again focusing my research efforts towards the fundamental aspects of the interaction between soft X-rays and small molecular systems. In order to do this I make use of national and international large scale facilities such as MAX-IV and the European XFEL.