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HARMONIC SPECTROSCOPY

Looking into strong-field dynamics

Nature Photonics volume 14, pages 131–133 (2020)Cite this article

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The combination of high-order harmonic polarimetry and sub-cycle control of electronic trajectories gives insight into the birth of attosecond electronic wave packets in molecules.

Tunnelling through a potential barrier is one of the most intriguing quantum-mechanical processes that has no counterpart in classical mechanics. Modern laser technologies give access to pulses whose electric fields are comparable to or even exceed by several orders of magnitude those experienced by the outermost electrons in atoms and molecules. When a bound system is exposed to an intense femtosecond laser pulse, the binding electrostatic potential is strongly deformed, with the formation of a barrier through which valence electrons can tunnel1. Once free, the electronic wave packet is accelerated by the external field and it can recollide and recombine with the parent ion, determining the generation of coherent extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) or X-ray photons2. The emitted radiation carries in its spectral distribution and polarization state traces of the ‘history’ of the photoelectron wave packet, and it can be used as a ‘magnifying glass’ to look into the microscopic details of the ionization and recombination dynamics.

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Fig. 1: Imaging of tunnelling ionization in molecules.

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  1. Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Giuseppe Sansone

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  1. Giuseppe Sansone
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Correspondence to Giuseppe Sansone.

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Sansone, G. Looking into strong-field dynamics. Nat. Photonics 14, 131–133 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-0596-y

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