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arXiv:2405.10420 · Physical Review A

Coherent control of multiphoton ionization of lithium atoms by a bichromatic laser field

Silva Mezinska, Alexander Dorn, Thomas Pfeifer, Klaus Bartschat

Published Jul 17, 2024• 2 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate a left-right asymmetry control of the photoelectron angular distribution in multiphoton ionization of Li atoms by a bichromatic laser field. By delaying the fundamental (780 nm) and its second harmonic relative to each other in steps of 130 attoseconds, we can vary the relative phase between the two laser fields with subwavelength accuracy and thereby steer the ejected electrons. Good agreement is found between the measurements and calculations at the appropriate intensities of the two harmonics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

DOI
10.1103/physreva.110.013116

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We demonstrate a left-right asymmetry control of the photoelectron angular distribution in multiphoton ionization of Li atoms by a bichromatic laser field. By delaying the fundamental (780 nm) and its second harmonic relative to each other in steps of 130 attoseconds, we can vary the relative phase between the two laser fields with subwavelength accuracy and thereby steer the ejected electrons. Good agreement is found between the measurements and calculations at the appropriate intensities of the two harmonics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
A novel kind of coherent control of various atomic and molecular photoprocesses proceeding in a bichromatic electromagnetic (EM) laser field, angular coherent control , is proposed and demonstrated here theoretically by studying the particular case of negative-ion photodetachment in the field of a linearly polarized fundamental laser frequency and its second harmonic of arbitrary spatial configuration and orientation of the unit polarization vectors e 1 and e 2 of the respective harmonic fields. Due to the inherent spatial asymmetry of the applied bichromatic field, the ejection of detached photoelectrons is also generally asymmetric in respect of the detached photoelectron momentum replacement p →- p . As follows from our gauge-invariant analytical calculations within the framework of perturbation theory on EM interaction and a zero-range potential model for the negative ion, this field asymmetry results in a photocurrent, the magnitude and direction of which are strongly dependent on both the relative phase shift Φ between the harmonics of the ionizing bichromatic field and on the angle θ between the polarization vectors e 1 and e 2 . The latter strong dependence on the angle θ is the background for angular control of the direction and magnitude of the produced photocurrent by means of an appropriate choice and proper adjustment of the angle between the polarization vectors of the incident bichromatic field harmonics.
Coherent control provides a quantum interference based method for controlling atomic and molecular dynamics. We report two experimental observations of different ways to achieve such a control in atomic photoionization continuum. One is the photoionization of sodium atoms, initially prepared in the 3P1/2 excited state, by a non resonant three-photon interaction with 1064-nm laser light and by a one-photon interaction with the third-harmonic field, at 355 nm. Interference between the two transition paths allows the control of the total ionization rate by varying the relative phase of the laser fields. The second experiment is the observation of the modification of the ionization continua of xenon through laser induced continuum structure (LICS). The multiphoton radiative decay of the xenon ground state into the two electronic continua, that correspond to the two fine structure levels of the ground state of the xenon ion, is varied by electromagnetically embedding a bound state of the atom into the two continua. Both experiments are performed on an atomic beam apparatus which uses a time-of-flight spectrometer for energy analyzing the emitted photoelectrons.
We investigate the coherent control of the photoelectron angular distribution in bichromatic atomic ionization. Neon is selected as target since it is one of the most popular systems in current gas-phase experiments with free-electron lasers (FELSs). In particular, we tackle practical questions, such as the role of the fine-structure splitting, the pulse length, and the intensity. Time-dependent and stationary perturbation theory are employed, and we also solve the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation in a single-active electron model. We consider neon ionized by a FEL pulse whose fundamental frequency is in resonance with either $2p\text{\ensuremath{-}}3s$ or $2p\text{\ensuremath{-}}4s$ excitation. The contribution of the nonresonant two-photon process and its potential constructive or destructive role for quantum coherent control is investigated.
Quantitative control and measurement of quantum entanglement are essential for advancing quantum technologies. Photoionization induced by ultrashort laser pulses provides a unique platform for studying entanglement between photoelectrons and residual ions, representing one of the most intriguing quantum phenomena in attosecond physics. Although extensive studies have focused on the coherence properties within either the emitted electrons or the ions individually, the electron-ion entanglement has remained largely unexplored. In this work, we bridge this gap by investigating the resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization of argon atoms driven by two time-delayed ultrashort ultraviolet pulses. Employing state-of-the-art first-principles multi-electron simulations, we demonstrate the ability to reconstruct and precisely manipulate the purity of electron quantum states through detailed analysis of the photoelectron angular distributions. Our results reveal distinct scattering-phase differences among various electron configurations within the same partial wave channel, providing unequivocal evidence of electron-ion correlation and entanglement. With the fast development of free-electron lasers, this study establishes an experimentally feasible framework for directly controlling quantum entanglement in ultrafast ionization processes, offering new insights and powerful methodologies for exploring complex electron dynamics in many-electron systems.