Streak Camera for Strong-Field Ionization

Abstract

Ionization of an atom or molecule by a strong laser field produces sub-optical cycle wave packets whose control has given rise to attosecond science. The final states of the wave packets depend on ionization and deflection by the laser field, which are convoluted in conventional experiments. Here, we demonstrate a technique enabling efficient electron deflection, separate from the field driving strong-field ionization. Using a mid-infrared deflection field permits one to distinguish electron wave packets generated at different field maxima of an intense few-cycle visible laser pulse. We utilize this capability to trace the scattering of low-energy electrons driven by the mid-infrared field. Our approach represents a general technique for studying and controlling strong-field ionization dynamics on the attosecond time scale.

5 Pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Non-Sequential Double Ionization by Counter Rotating Circularly Polarized Two-Color Laser Fields
• Streaking temporal double slit interference by an orthogonal two-color laser field
• Attosecond nanoscale near-field sampling
• Coincidence spectroscopy of high-lying Rydberg states produced in strong laser fields
• Temporal characterization of individual harmonics of an attosecond pulse train by THz streaking

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Probing multiphoton light-induced molecular potentials
• Spatiotemporal imaging of valence electron motion
• High-order phase-dependent asymmetry in the above-threshold ionization plateau
• Density-based one-dimensional model potentials for strong-field simulations in $\text{He}$, ${\text{H}}_2^{+}$ and ${\text{H}}_2$
• Determining the duration of an intense laser pulse directly in focus
• Streaking strong-field double ionization
• Rescattering effects in streaking experiments of strong-field ionization
• Femtosecond streaking in ambient air