The first hundred attoseconds of the electron dynamics during strong field tunneling ionization are investigated. We quantify theoretically how the electron's classical trajectories in the continuum emerge from the tunneling process and test the results with those achieved in parallel from attoclock measurements. An especially high sensitivity on the tunneling barrier is accomplished here by comparing the momentum distributions of two atomic species of slightly deviating atomic potentials (argon and krypton) being ionized under absolutely identical conditions with near-infrared laser pulses (1300 nm). The agreement between experiment and theory provides clear evidence for a nonzero tunneling time delay and a nonvanishing longitudinal momentum of the electron at the "tunnel exit."

Highly excited states of rubidium (Rb) atoms attached to helium (He) nanodroplets are studied by two-photon ionization spectroscopy in combination with electron and ion imaging. We find high yields of RbHe and RbHe(2) exciplexes when exciting to the 4D and 6P bands but not at the 6S band, in accord with a direct formation of exciplexes in binding RbHe pair potentials. Photoion spectra and angular distributions are in good agreement with a pseudodiatomic model for the RbHe(N) complex. Repulsive interactions in the excited states entail fast dissociation followed by ionization of free Rb atoms as well as of RbHe and RbHe(2) exciplexes.

Laser-induced tunnel ionization from a coherent superposition of electronic states in Ar+ is studied in a kinematically complete experiment. Within a pump-probe scheme a spin-orbit wave packet is launched through the first ionization step from the neutral species. The multielectron coherent wave packet is probed as a function of time by the second pulse which ionizes the system to Ar++. By measuring delay-dependent electron momentum distributions we directly image the evolution of the nonstationary multielectron wave function. Comparing the results with simulations we test common assumptions about electron momentum distributions and the tunneling process itself

We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of ionization of argon atoms by a linearly polarized two-color laser field (λ 1 = 800 nm, λ 2 = 400 nm). Changing the relative phase ϕ between the two colors, the forward-backward asymmetry of the doubly differential momentum distribution of emitted electrons can be controlled. We find excellent agreement between the measurements and the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in the single-active electron approximation. Surprisingly we also find good agreement between the quantum and classical calculations of electron momentum distributions generated by lasers at optical wavelengths.