Time-resolved nuclear dynamics in bound and dissociating acetylene

We have investigated nuclear dynamics in bound and dissociating acetylene molecular ions in a time-resolved reaction microscopy experiment with a pair of few-cycle pulses. Vibrating bound acetylene cations or dissociating dications are produced by the first pulse. The second pulse probes the nuclear dynamics by ionization to higher charge states and Coulomb explosion of the molecule. For the bound cations, we observed vibrations in acetylene (HCCH) and its isomer vinylidene (CCHH) along the CC-bond with a periodicity of around 26 fs. For dissociating dication molecules, a clear indication of enhanced ionization is found to occur along the CH- and CC-bonds after 10 fs to 40 fs. The time-dependent ionization processes are simulated using semi-classical on-the-fly dynamics revealing the underling mechanisms

Attosecond angular streaking and tunnelling time in atomic hydrogen

The tunnelling of a particle through a potential barrier is a key feature of quantum mechanics that goes to the core of wave-particle duality. The phenomenon has no counterpart in classical physics, and there are no well constructed dynamical observables that could be used to determine 'tunnelling times'. The resulting debate(1-5) about whether a tunnelling quantum particle spends a finite and measurable time under a potential barrier was reignited in recent years by the advent of ultrafast lasers and attosecond metrology(6). Particularly important is the attosecond angular streaking ('attoclock') technique(7), which can time the release of electrons in strong-field ionization with a precision of a few attoseconds. Initial measurements(7-10) confirmed the prevailing view that tunnelling is instantaneous, but later studies(11,12) involving multi-electron atoms-which cannot be accurately modelled, complicating interpretation of the ionization dynamics-claimed evidence for finite tunnelling times. By contrast, the simplicity of the hydrogen atom enables precise experimental measurements and calculations(13-15) and makes it a convenient benchmark. Here we report attoclock and momentum-space imaging(16) experiments on atomic hydrogen and compare these results with accurate simulations based on the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation and our experimental laser pulse parameters. We find excellent agreement between measured and simulated data, confirming the conclusions of an earlier theoretical study(17) of the attoclock technique in atomic hydrogen that presented a compelling argument for instantaneous tunnelling. In addition, we identify the Coulomb potential as the sole cause of the measured angle between the directions of electron emission and peak electric field: this angle had been attributed(11,12) to finite tunnelling times. We put an upper limit of 1.8 attoseconds on any tunnelling delay, in agreement with recent theoretical findings(18) and ruling out the interpretation of all commonly used 'tunnelling times'(19) as 'time spent by an electron under the potential barrier'(20) © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 201

Relativistic nondipole effects in strong-field atomic ionization at moderate intensities

We present a detailed experimental and theoretical study on the relativistic nondipole effects in strong-field atomic ionization by near-infrared linearly polarized few-cycle laser pulses in the intensity range of 10¹⁴–10¹⁵  W/cm². We record high-resolution photoelectron momentum distributions of argon using a reaction microscope and compare our measurements with a truly ab initio fully relativistic 3D model based on the time-dependent Dirac equation. We observe counterintuitive peak shifts of the transverse electron momentum distribution in the direction opposite to that of laser propagation as a function of laser intensity and demonstrate an excellent agreement between the experimental results and theoretical predictions.Nida Haram, Igor Ivanov, Han Xu, Kyung Taec Kim, A. Atia-tul-Noor, U. Satya Sainadh, R.D. Glover, D. Chetty, I.V. Litvinyuk, and R.T. San

Relativistic Nondipole Effects in Strong-Field Atomic Ionization at Moderate Intensities

© 2019 American Physical Society.We present a detailed experimental and theoretical study on the relativistic nondipole effects in strong-field atomic ionization by near-infrared linearly polarized few-cycle laser pulses in the intensity range of 1014-1015 W/cm2. We record high-resolution photoelectron momentum distributions of argon using a reaction microscope and compare our measurements with a truly ab initio fully relativistic 3D model based on the time-dependent Dirac equation. We observe counterintuitive peak shifts of the transverse electron momentum distribution in the direction opposite to that of laser propagation as a function of laser intensity and demonstrate an excellent agreement between the experimental results and theoretical predictions11sciescopu