Measuring the quantum state of photoelectrons
arXiv:2309.13945 · doi:10.1038/s41566-024-01607-8
Abstract
A photoelectron, emitted due to the absorption of light quanta as described by the photoelectric effect, is often characterized experimentally by a classical quantity, its momentum. However, since the photoelectron is a quantum object, its rigorous characterization requires the reconstruction of the complete quantum state, the photoelectron's density matrix. Here, we use quantum state tomography to fully characterize photoelectrons emitted from helium and argon atoms upon absorption of ultrashort, extreme ultraviolet light pulses. While in helium we measure a pure photoelectronic state, in argon, spin-orbit interaction induces entanglement between the ion and the photoelectron, leading to a reduced purity of the photoelectron state. Our work shows how state tomography gives new insights into the fundamental quantum aspects of light-induced electronic processes in matter, bridging the fields of photoelectron spectroscopy and quantum information, and offering new spectroscopic possibilities for quantum technology.
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- Time-dependent Hole States in Multiconfigurational Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock Approaches: A Time-Domain Generalization of Extended Koopmans' Theorem
- Phase evolution of strong-field ionization
- Nonadiabatic theory for subcycle ionic dynamics in multielectron tunneling ionization
- Two-electron quantum walks can probe entanglement and decoherence in an electron microscope
- Selective and efficient quantum state tomography for multi-qubit systems
- Time-dependent Hole States in Multiconfigurational Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock Approaches: Applications in Photoionization of Water Molecule