Potentials for time-resolved laser-induced electron diffraction imaging within the XUV + IR scheme

We theoretically investigate the possibility of extending the laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) imaging technique by adding a relatively intense XUV pulse to control and enhance the returning electron wave-packet. By analyzing the exact solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation, we show that the LIED signals can be increased by two orders of magnitude within this scheme. More importantly, the quality of the retrieved laser-free differential elastic electron-target ion scattering cross section is not affected by the presence of the XUV pulse. Furthermore, with precise control of the electron emission time provided by the XUV pulse, the temporal resolution of the measurement can be improved as compared to the standard LIED technique. An additional advantage of this scheme is that a relatively weak IR pulse can be used, thereby overcoming the difficulties associated with the depletion of the target ground state.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES) under Award Number DE-SC0023192.