Intense light-matter interaction: How electron spin can influence strong-field ionization

COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited

Abstract

Advancements in laser technology continually push the interaction of light and matter to new limits, reaching unexplored frontiers where new science is emerging. Although light cannot directly interact with electron spin, I will present our recent experiments demonstrating that spin can play a profound role on ionization driven by strong-field laser pulses. Tabletop extreme ultraviolet (XUV) transient absorption spectroscopy is used to measure the angular distributions of singly and doubly tunnel-ionized xenon atomic states via 4d core to 5p valence shell transitions between 55 and 60 eV. These orbital alignment measurements are combined with theory to reveal new details about electron correlation (electron-electron interaction) during atomic strong-field double ionization that are fundamentally important for understanding light-matter interaction. [S. G. Sayres, E. R. Hosler, and S. R. Leone, J. Phys. Chem. A 118, 8614 (2014).]

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Authors

  • Scott D. Bergesen

    Santa Fe Institute, Arizona State University, Department of Physics and Center for Biological Physics, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University, Dixie State College, Advisor, Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory, Colorado College, United States Air Force Academy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Utah State University, Brigham Young University - Idaho, Utah State University- Logan, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Humboldt State University, UC Santa Cruz, Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, Arizona State Univ, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, National Jewish Health, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, U. S. Air Force Academy, Brigham Young Univ - Provo, University of New South Wales, University of Texas, University of Warwick, University of Louisiana, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, USA., Center for Materials Genomics, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, North Ca, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina., Brigham Young University -- Provo, Utah, General Atomics -- San Diego, California, Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Department of Physics, Arizona State University, UC Riverside, UMASS, STScI, NOAO, UT Austin, Texas A&M, Arizona State Univeristy, New Mexico State Univ, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Colorado State Univ, Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Colorado School of Mines, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, The Peac Institute of Multiscale Modeling, UNSW Canberra