Direct Interferometric Measurement of the Atomic Dipole Phase in High-Order Harmonic Generation

Corsi, C.; Pirri, Angela; Sali, E.; Tortora, Alessandra; Bellini, M.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.023901

Cited by 53 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The value of α S,L q obtained in the present study is in fair agreement with the theoretical predictions for the dominance of the two "shortest" ("short" and "long") electron trajectories [19,[39][40][41] and the recent experimental findings of Ref. [23], while is larger by a factor of 3 compared to previously reported experimental values for argon and krypton [25]. At I regions, where more than one harmonic lies in the plateau, t e reflects the average value of the emission time differences weighted by the harmonic amplitude (E q ), i.e., t e = t q e = q E q t q e / q E q .…”

Section: Mapping the Electron Wave-packet Interferencessupporting

confidence: 80%

“…4(a)], since the difference between harmonic emission times ( t e = t L q e − t S q e ) and the corresponding difference L e = L L q e − L S q e between "long" and "short" path lengths can be directly measured. An advantage of the present approach as compared to interferometric approaches [25] is that any dispersion effect, which may be introduced by the ionization in the harmonic generation region, is physically absent in the measurement. This is because all of the information about the harmonic emission time differences is obtained by measuring the phase differences between the "short" and the "long" trajectories contributing to the same harmonic generated by the same EUV source and not between different harmonics generated by two independent EUV sources.…”

Section: Mapping the Electron Wave-packet Interferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…for argon, krypton, and neon has been demonstrated before [22,23,25,[39][40][41], to our knowledge, for xenon, there is a lack of information. The value of α S,L q obtained in the present study is in fair agreement with the theoretical predictions for the dominance of the two "shortest" ("short" and "long") electron trajectories [19,[39][40][41] and the recent experimental findings of Ref.…”

Section: Mapping the Electron Wave-packet Interferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to its quantum nature, the interaction is influenced by the phase of the released electron wave packets. This has been experimentally demonstrated using spectroscopic [22][23][24] and interferometric approaches [25]. Thus, detailed mapping of the electron wave-packet interference patterns provides an essential insight into the physics underlying the interaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revealing quantum path details in high-field physics

et al. 2014

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The fundamental mechanism underlying harmonic emission in the strong-field regime is governed by tunnel ionization of the atom, followed by the motion of the electron wave packet in the continuum, and finally by its recollision with the atomic core. Due to the quantum nature of the process, the properties of the electron wave packet strongly correlate with those of the emitted radiation. Here, by spatially resolving the interference pattern generated by overlapping the harmonic radiation emitted by different interfering electron quantum paths, we have succeeded in unravelling the intricacies associated with the recollision process. This has been achieved by mapping the spatial extreme-ultraviolet (EUV)-intensity distribution onto a spatial ion distribution, produced in the EUV focal area through the linear and nonlinear processes of atoms. By in situ manipulation of the intensity-dependent motion of the electron wave packets, we have been able to directly measure the difference between the harmonic emission times and electron path lengths resulting from different electron trajectories. Due to the high degree of accuracy that the present approach provides, we have been able to demonstrate the quantum nature of the recollision process. This is done by quantitatively correlating the photoemission time and the electron quantum path-length differences, taking into account the energy-momentum transfer from the driving laser field into the system. This information paves the way for electron-photon correlation studies at the attosecond time scale, while it puts the recollision process from the semiclassical prospective into a full quantum-mechanical context.

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Section: Mapping the Electron Wave-packet Interferencessupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Mapping the Electron Wave-packet Interferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mapping the Electron Wave-packet Interferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revealing quantum path details in high-field physics

et al. 2014

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“…When the XUV spectra exhibit interferences, it allows to retrieve even more information on the laser-matter interaction 21 . They are therefore major issues in Attoscience and they have been widely studied.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio–spectral structures in high-order harmonic beams generated with Terawatt 10-fs pulses

et al. 2014

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A large international effort is nowadays devoted to increase the energy of the extreme ultraviolet pulses by using high-peak power ultrashort fundamental pulses (Terawatt level). Using such fundamental pulses brings specific constraints that need to be addressed. Here we study high-order harmonic generation in gases with 10 fs pulses at Terawatt peak power and demonstrate that extreme ultraviolet beams can be highly structured and complex in various conditions. We use a single-shot spatially resolved spectral detection and demonstrate direct observation of the spatio-temporal coupling occuring in the generating medium. Clear and reproducible complex spatio-spectral structures are observed in the far field. Similar structures are reproduced with simulations and we show that they are intimately associated to the high nonlinearity of high-order harmonic generation. Those findings are of prime importance for the generation of high-energy attosecond pulses and reveal important issues for their applications.

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Molecular Recollision Interferometry in High Harmonic Generation

Zhou

Lock

Wagner

et al. 2009

Springer Series in Chemical Physics

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We use extreme-ultraviolet interferometry to measure the phase of high-order harmonic generation from transiently aligned CO 2 molecules. We unambiguously observe a reversal in phase of the high order harmonic emission for higher harmonic orders with a sufficient degree of alignment. This results from molecular-scale quantum interferences between the molecular electronic wave function and the recolliding electron as it recombines with the molecule, and is consistent with a two-center model. Furthermore, using the combined harmonic intensity and phase information, we extract accurate information on the dispersion relation of the returning electron wavepacket as a function of harmonic order.This analysis shows evidence of the effect of the molecular potential on the recolliding electron wave.

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Direct Interferometric Measurement of the Atomic Dipole Phase in High-Order Harmonic Generation

Cited by 53 publications

References 23 publications

Revealing quantum path details in high-field physics

Revealing quantum path details in high-field physics

Spatio–spectral structures in high-order harmonic beams generated with Terawatt 10-fs pulses

Molecular Recollision Interferometry in High Harmonic Generation

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