The core principle behind strong field atomic phenomena is the process where electrons, freed by an intense laser field, are driven back to recollide with the core. This process, also referred to as the three-step model, results in the generation of attosecond radiation bursts, high-energy electrons, and multiple charged ions. Traditionally, these phenomena have been interpreted as the coherent sum of individual electron quantum trajectories. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work on the quantum trajectory selector (QTS), a method designed to isolate and examine individual quantum trajectories. Utilizing an XUV attosecond pulse train with a shaped bandwidth, we generate near-zero energy electron wave packets that simulate the initial conditions of tunnel ionization in the three-step model. This allows us to accurately determine the moment the electron enters the continuum and analyze the subsequent rate of electron emission and double ionization, driven by a phase locked near-infrared field. We measure a delay-dependent rate for both rescattered electron emission and double ionization and precisely clock their corresponding ionization time with attosecond precision calibrated using the streaking of the direct electrons. The QTS offers an innovative framework for increasing our understanding of recollision-driven physics and attosecond science in atoms, molecules and solids.
–
Publication: Andrew J. Piper, Qiaoyi Liu, Abraham Camacho Garibay, Dietrich Kiesewetter, Vyacheslav Leshchenko, Jens E. Bækhøj, Pierre Agostini, Kenneth J. Schafer, Louis F. DiMauro, Yaguo Tang, Attosecond Clocking and Control of Strong Field Quantum Trajectories, Phys. Rev. Lett. to be submitted.
