Attosecond streaking in a nano-plasmonic field

A theoretical study of the application of attosecond streaking spectroscopy to time-resolved studies of the plasmonic fields surrounding isolated, resonantly excited spherical nanoparticles is presented. A classification of the different regimes in attosecond streaking is proposed and identified in our results that are derived from Mie calculations of plasmon fields, coupled to classical electron trajectory simulations. It is shown that in an attosecond streaking experiment, the electrons are almost exclusively sensitive to the component of the field parallel to the direction in which they are detected. This allows one to probe the different components of the field individually by resolving the angle of emission of the electrons. Finally, simulations based on fields calculated by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) are compared with the results obtained using Mie fields. The two are found to be in good agreement with each other, supporting the notion that FDTD methods can be used to reliably investigate non-spherical structures

Attosecond electron spectroscopy using a novel interferometric pump-probe technique

We present an interferometric pump-probe technique for the characterization of attosecond electron wave packets (WPs) that uses a free WP as a reference to measure a bound WP. We demonstrate our method by exciting helium atoms using an attosecond pulse with a bandwidth centered near the ionization threshold, thus creating both a bound and a free WP simultaneously. After a variable delay, the bound WP is ionized by a few-cycle infrared laser precisely synchronized to the original attosecond pulse. By measuring the delay-dependent photoelectron spectrum we obtain an interferogram that contains both quantum beats as well as multi-path interference. Analysis of the interferogram allows us to determine the bound WP components with a spectral resolution much better than the inverse of the attosecond pulse duration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Attosecond control in photoionization of D2

ABSTRACT: We study the dissociative photoionization of D2 by an attosecond pulse train (APT) in the presence of a near-infrared (IR) field. Strong oscillations in the D+ kinetic energy release spectrum with a half period of the optical cycle of the infrared field are observed and attributed to interferences between ionization pathways involving different harmonic orders of the APT due to the IR-induced coupling between the 1s(sigma)g and 2p(sigma)u ionization channels

Attosecond control in photoionization of hydrogen molecules

ABSTRACT: We report experiments where hydrogen molecules were dissociatively ionized by an attosecond pulse train in the presence of a near-infrared field. Fragment ion yields from distinguishable ionization channels oscillate with a period that is half the optical cycle of the IR field. For molecules aligned parallel to the laser polarization axis, the oscillations are reproduced in two-electron quantum simulations, and can be explained in terms of an interference between ionization pathways that involve different harmonic orders and a laser-induced coupling between the 1s g and 2p u states of the molecular ion. This leads to a situation where the ionization probability is sensitive to the instantaneous polarization of the molecule by the IR electric field and demonstrates that we have probed the IR-induced electron dynamics with attosecond pulses

Attosecond control of dissociative ionization of O 2 molecules

We demonstrate that dissociative ionization of O(2) can be controlled by the relative delay between an attosecond pulse train (APT) and a copropagating infrared (IR) field. Our experiments reveal a dependence of both the branching ratios between a range of electronic states and the fragment angular distributions on the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) to IR time delay. The observations go beyond adiabatic propagation of dissociative wave packets on IR-induced quasistatic potential energy curves and are understood in terms of an IR-induced coupling between electronic states in the molecular ion

Capturing atomic and electronic motion with high harmonic generation light pulses

Contains fulltext : 90924.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 23 juni 2011Promotor : Vrakking, M.J.J.153 p