Photoelectron ionization time of aligned molecules clocked by attosecond angular streaking

Jiaqing Yan, Wenhai Xie, Min Li, Kun Liu, Siqiang Luo, Chuanpeng Cao, Keyu Guo, Wei Cao, Pengfei Lan, Qingbin Zhang, Yueming Zhou, and Peixiang Lu
Phys. Rev. A 102, 013117 – Published 31 July 2020

Abstract

Attoclock is a powerful technique to resolve laser-driven electron dynamics on an attosecond time scale. Previously, it was mainly limited to atomic targets. Here we apply the attoclock technique to aligned molecules to study the subcycle ionization dynamics. By controlling the alignment of the molecule relative to the major axis of a strong elliptically polarized laser field, we demonstrate that the electron ionization time in aligned molecules can be precisely resolved by the attoclock technique. We find that the ionization time corresponding to the peak of the photoelectron momentum distribution shifts several tens of attoseconds relative to the laser field peak depending on the molecular orientation and molecular orbital structure. A significant difference between the measurement and molecular Ammosov-Delone-Krainov model is found. We further show that the photoelectron ionization time of molecules is sensitive to angular-dependent ionization rate, opening up opportunities for probing attosecond electron dynamics in complex polyatomic molecules.

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  • Received 6 July 2020
  • Accepted 8 July 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.102.013117

©2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Jiaqing Yan1, Wenhai Xie1, Min Li1,*, Kun Liu1, Siqiang Luo1, Chuanpeng Cao1, Keyu Guo1, Wei Cao1, Pengfei Lan1, Qingbin Zhang1, Yueming Zhou1, and Peixiang Lu1,2,3,†

  • 1Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
  • 2Hubei Key Laboratory of Optical Information and Pattern Recognition, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China
  • 3CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-intense Laser Science, Shanghai 201800, China

  • *mli@hust.edu.cn
  • lupeixiang@hust.edu.cn

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Vol. 102, Iss. 1 — July 2020

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