Coherent electron scattering captured by an attosecond quantum stroboscope

We demonstrate a quantum stroboscope based on a sequence of identical attosecond pulses that are used to release electrons into a strong infrared (IR) laser field exactly once per laser cycle. The resulting electron momentum distributions are recorded as a function of time delay between the IR laser and the attosecond pulse train using a velocity map imaging spectrometer. Because our train of attosecond pulses creates a train of identical electron wave packets, a single ionization event can be studied stroboscopically. This technique has enabled us to image the coherent electron scattering that takes place when the IR field is sufficiently strong to reverse the initial direction of the electron motion causing it to rescatter from its parent ion.     

Coherent matter waves for ultrafast laser pulse characterization

A technique for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses using coherent matter waves is demonstrated. We emphasize the analogy between matter wave packets and electromagnetic wave packets propagating in dispersive media. Due to quadratic dispersion the wave packets are stretched and their temporal structure eventually converges to their spectrum, thus providing a possibility for energy measurements in conjugate space. This is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally and is the basis for our laser pulse characterization technique. We use energy resolved interferometrically recorded photoelectron spectra generated by above-threshold ionization in an autocorrelation setup to characterize ultrashort laser pulses at 800 nm wavelength. This approach is potentially applicable to the XUV wavelength region.     

Attosecond control of ionization by wave-packet interference

A train of attosecond pulses, synchronized to an infrared (IR) laser field, is used to create a series of electron wave packets (EWPs) that are below the ionization threshold in .helium. The ionization probability is found to strongly oscillate with the delay between the IR and attosecond fields twice per IR laser cycle. Calculations that reproduce the experimental results demonstrate that this ionization control results from interference between transiently bound EWPs created by different pulses in the train. In this way, we are able to observe, for the first time, attosecond wave-packet interference in a strongly driven atomic system.     

Role of XUV Photons in Atomic High-Order Above-Threshold Ionization Processes in IR+XUV Two-Color Laser Fields

We investigate the above-threshold ionization of an atom in a combined infrared(IR) and extreme ultraviolet(XUV) two-color laser field and focus on the role of XUV field in the high-order above-threshold ionization(HATI)process. It is demonstrated that, in stark contrast to previous studies, the XUV laser may play a significant role in atomic HATI process, and in particular, the XUV laser can accelerate the ionized electron in a quantized way during the collision between the electron and its parent ion. This process cannot be explained by the classical three-step model. Our results indicate that the previously well-established concept that HATI is an elastic recollision process is broken down.     

Generation of XUV attosecond pulses in the process of atomic ionization by few-cycle laser radiation

Ionization of a model two-electron atom in the presence of a strong field of ultrashort laser pulses is investigated using the numerical integration of the nonstationary Schrödinger equation, which describes the dynamics of a quantum system in the presence of an electromagnetic wave. The features of two-electron ionization in the presence of one-and two-cycle pulses are analyzed. The suppression of double ionization in the presence of ultrashort laser pulses related to a finite-time interelectron energy exchange upon the laser action is demonstrated. The features of the generation of high-order harmonics and single XUV attosecond pulses are studied for the atomic ionization by few-cycle laser pulses. The parameters of the laser pulse are optimized for the effective generation of a single XUV attosecond pulse.     

Attosecond angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

We report experiments on the characterization of a train of attosecond pulses obtained by high-harmonic generation, using mixed-color (XUV+IR) atomic two-photon ionization and electron detection on a velocity map imaging detector. We demonstrate that the relative phase of the harmonics is encoded both in the photoelectron yield and the angular distribution as a function of XUV-IR time delay, thus making the technique suitable for the detection of single attosecond pulses. The timing of the attosecond pulse with respect to the field oscillation of the driving laser critically depends on the target gas used to generate the harmonics.     

红外激光载波包络相位对氦原子的极紫外光(XUV)吸收谱的量子调控研究

本文通过数值求解双电子含时薛定谔方程, 研究了利用红外(IR)超短超强激光的载波包络相位(CEP)对氦(He)原子的极紫外光(Extreme Ultra-Violet, XUV)吸收谱进行量子调控的可能性. 当XUV作用到He原子上时, 原子存在两个电离通道: 无明显电子关联的直接电离和带强烈电子关联的间接电离(即通过双激发态自发电离). 两个通道相互干涉可在XUV吸收谱中形成人们所熟知的Fano共振线型, 并且谱线的形状由两个通道间的比例决定. 通过引入另外一束IR激光, 我们发现, 原子的XUV吸收谱将发生明显改变, 即伴随着超短脉冲CEP的改变而 呈现出从Fano线型到Lorentz线型的周期性连续变化. 上述结果表明, 通过合理地控制超短脉冲的CEP可以有效地调控两个电离通道之间的量子干涉, 进而为探测和操控原子中的极端超快电子关联提供可能.     

Peculiarities of the ionization of many-electron systems and generation of attosecond pulses in ultrashort laser fields

The ionization of a model two-electron atom in the field of a strong ultrashort laser pulse is studied by numerical integration of the nonstationary Schrödinger equation describing the dynamics of a quantum system in the field of an electromagnetic wave. Pecularities of the two-electron ionization are analyzed for pulses whose duration amounts to one to two periods of oscillation of the electric field of the wave at different frequencies of the incident radiation. For extremely short pulses, the double ionization is found to be suppressed. This effect is caused by the finiteness of the interelectron energy exchange time during the laser action. Peculiarities of the generation of high-order harmonics and single XUV attosecond pulses upon ionization of atoms by laser pulses, whose duration is within one to two optical cycles, are investigated.     

Controlling the XUV transparency of helium using two-pathway quantum interference

Atoms irradiated with combined femtosecond laser and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) fields ionize through multiphoton processes, even when the energy of the XUV photon is below the ionization potential. However, in the presence of two different XUV photons and an intense laser field, it is possible to induce full electromagnetic transparency. Taking helium as an example, the laser field modifies its electronic structure, while the presence of two different XUV photons and the laser field leads to two distinct ionization pathways that can interfere destructively. This work demonstrates a new approach for coherent control in a regime of highly excited states and strong optical fields.     

Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy:Comparative study based on three-level modeling

In the present paper, the time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy of helium atoms is investigated based on the three-level modeling. The helium atoms are subjected to an extreme ultraviolet(XUV) attosecond pulse and a time-delayed infrared(IR) few-cycle laser field. The odd excited state are populated from the ground state by the XUV pulse due to the dipole selection rule, and probed by the time-delayed IR laser. The time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy based on the different coupling mechanism demonstrate some different features, the photoabsorption spectrum based on three-level model with rotating wave approximation(RWA) cannot repeat the fast oscillation and the sideband structure which have been observed in the previous experimental investigation. The dressing effect of IR laser pulse on the ground state can contribute new interference structures in the photoabsorption spectrum.     

Ponderomotive shearing for spectral interferometry of extreme-ultraviolet pulses

We propose a novel method for completely characterizing ultrashort pulses at extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) wavelengths by adapting the technique of spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction to this spectral region. Two-electron wave packets are coherently produced by photoionizing atoms with two time-delayed replicas of the XUV pulse. For one of the XUV pulses, photoionization occurs in the presence of a strong infrared pulse that ponderomotively shifts the binding energy, thereby providing the spectral shear needed for reconstruction of the spectral phase of the XUV pulse.     

Attosecond spectral shearing interferometry

We show that the complete characterization of arbitrarily short isolated attosecond x-ray pulses can be achieved by applying spectral shearing interferometry to photoelectron wave packets. These wave packets are coherently produced through the photoionization of atoms by two time-delayed replicas of the x-ray pulse, and are shifted in energy with respect to each other by simultaneously applying a strong laser field. The x-ray pulse is reconstructed with the algorithm developed for optical pulses, which requires no knowledge of ionization physics. Using a 800-nm shearing field, x-ray pulses shorter than approximately 400 asec can be fully characterized.     

红外激光场中共振结构原子对极紫外光脉冲的压缩效应

通过数值求解一维原子的含时薛定谔方程, 研究了具有共振结构的原子在双色场(红外激光(IR)+极紫外光(XUV)) 驱动下发射高次谐波的特征. 研究结果表明, 具有共振结构的原子所发射的高次谐波与无共振结构原子(简称为一般原子)发射的高次谐波有明显不同, 共振结构的原子除了在某一能量附近(原子的共振能量+电离能)高次谐波的强度有很大提高外, 它还对XUV光的响应较一般原子表现得更为敏感, 即使XUV光的强度较弱, 也能够明显提高XUV光脉冲中心频率附近的谐波强度, 更重要的是通过调节双色场的时间延迟, 能使输入的XUV光的脉宽得到明显的压缩, 通过时间-频率分析给出了发生这种现象的原因. 由此提出了通过滤波-连续反馈的方式可使XUV光的脉冲从200 as压缩至120 as左右.     

Alignment-dependent strong field ionization of molecules

We demonstrate a method to measure strong field laser ionization of aligned molecules. The method employs a macroscopic field-free dynamic alignment, which occurs during revivals of rotational wave packets produced by a femtosecond laser pulse. We investigate the dependence of strong field ionization of N2 on molecular orientation. We determine that N2 molecules are four times more likely to ionize when aligned parallel to the field than when aligned perpendicular to it.     

氢原子在红外激光和极紫外脉冲组合场中的阈上电离

通过求解氢原子在强红外(IR)激光和极紫外（XUV）脉冲组合场中的三维含时薛定谔方程(TDSE),理论研究了XUV脉冲的加入对光电子能谱和二维光电子动量分布的影响.计算结果表明,与仅由红外场驱动的情况相比,组合场驱动下的光电子能谱和二维光电子动量分布中呈现出明显的干涉增强结构,干涉结构对XUV脉冲的强度、光子能量和时间延迟都有很强的依赖,该方案可实现高能阈上电离谱的选择性增强.     

Inelastic scattering of broadband electron wave packets driven by an intense midinfrared laser field

Intense, 100 fs laser pulses at 3.2 and 3.6 μm are used to generate, by multiphoton ionization, broadband wave packets with up to 400 eV of kinetic energy and charge states up to Xe(+6). The multiple ionization pathways are well described by a white electron wave packet and field-free inelastic cross sections, averaged over the intensity-dependent energy distribution for (e, ne) electron impact ionization. The analysis also suggests a contribution from a 4d core excitation, or giant resonance, in xenon.     

Direct XUV probing of attosecond electron recollision

We demonstrate that the recolliding electron wave packet, fundamental to many strong field phenomena, can be directly imaged with sub-A spatial and attosecond temporal resolution using attosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses. When the recolliding electron revisits the parent ion, it can absorb an XUV photon yielding high energy electron and thereby providing a measurement of the electron energy at the moment of recollision. The full temporal evolution of the recollision wave packet can be reconstructed by measuring the photoelectron spectra for different time delays between the driving laser and the attosecond XUV probe. The strength of the photoelectron signal can be used to characterize the spatial distribution of the electron density in the longitudinal direction. Elliptical polarization can be used to characterize the electron probability in transversal direction.     

少周期XUV激光中氢分子离子单光子电离理论研究

通过数值求解二维含时薛定谔方程研究了氢分子离子在圆偏振XUV少周期激光电场中的单光子电离,结果观察到不同核间距的氢分子离子的光电子能谱的能移现象.分析表明,在少周期激光场宽频情况下,分子电离电子的双中心干涉改变了夫兰克-康登因子的单调递减趋势,使不同核间距氢分子离子的光电子能谱出现能量移动.     

In situ spatial mapping of Gouy phase slip for high-detail attosecond pump-probe measurements

Attosecond pump-probe experiments routinely utilize extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and IR fields, with relative phase being the variable parameter. However, the Gouy phase slip between the focused IR and XUV pulses inevitably leads to a certain amount of phase averaging and loss of accuracy. By using ion imaging, we establish a one-to-one mapping between the local phase slip and the spatial coordinates of the focal volume, thus performing in situ characterization of the Gouy phase of a complex beam and its role in ionization of He and Xe. We demonstrate that spatially discriminated ion imaging enhances the contrast of a phase-dependent XUV+IR ionization signal. We utilize our technique to unmask a weak ionization asymmetry, thus opening pathways for further high-precision attosecond studies.     

Attosecond control in photoionization of hydrogen molecules

We report experiments where hydrogen molecules were dissociatively ionized by an attosecond pulse train in the presence of a near-infrared field. Fragment ion yields from distinguishable ionization channels oscillate with a period that is half the optical cycle of the IR field. For molecules aligned parallel to the laser polarization axis, the oscillations are reproduced in two-electron quantum simulations, and can be explained in terms of an interference between ionization pathways that involve different harmonic orders and a laser-induced coupling between the 1sσ(g) and 2pσ(u) states of the molecular ion. This leads to a situation where the ionization probability is sensitive to the instantaneous polarization of the molecule by the IR electric field and demonstrates that we have probed the IR-induced electron dynamics with attosecond pulses.