Femtosecond-resolution measurement of soft-X-ray pulse duration using ultra-fast population increase of singly charged ions induced by optical-field ionization

We demonstrate sub-100-fs resolution of a cross-correlation method for measuring the duration of soft-X-ray pulses. The method uses the ultra-fast increase in a singly charged ion population induced by optical-field ionization as a soft-X-ray -absorption switch. We measured the pulse duration of the 51st harmonic of a Ti:sapphire laser pulse using Kr gas as a soft-X-ray absorption medium and found it to be 60 fs assuming that the harmonic envelope is equal to a squared secant hyperbolic. This confirmed that our method achieves a shorter temporal resolution than the 100-fs pulse duration of the ionizing laser pulse. The temporal resolution obtained in this way is expected to be from one-third to one-half the duration of the ionizing laser pulse, according to our calculation of the time-evolving population of the Kr⁺ ions. The experimental demonstration and calculation show that methods based on optical-field-induced ionization are promising for femtosecond temporal characterization of an ultra-short pulse in the soft-X-ray region. PACS 42.50.Hz; 42.65.Ky; 32.80.Rm; 06.60.Jn