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arXiv:2511.21094

Directional loss of contrast by dephasing in temporal double-slit interferometry

Yusoff, M. A. H. B. Md, Harindranath B. Ambalampitiya, J. M. Ngoko Djiokap

Published Nov 26, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

Attosecond streaking camera is an ex situ technique in which a linearly polarized (LP) XUV attopulse produces an electron wavepacket by photoionization in the presence of an IR femtopulse. By moving the two synchronous oppositely circularly polarized XUV pulses (that make the ionizing LP pulse) apart in time, we propose an attosecond double-slit streak camera scheme to see information loss in polarization-dependent two-slit phenomena. Such streaking interferogram is then composed of several Feynman's thought experiments in time domain, in which electrons are affected by the IR pulse as they exit the two attoslits upon XUV ionization processes to form Archimedean spiral patterns. As a proof-of-principle, when the IR femtofield and first XUV attopulse are synchronous, a loss of contrast through dephasing is seen in the simulated momentum and energy distributions of the photoelectron. It is shown that the contrast between bright and dark interference fringes diminishes predominantly along the IR-field polarization axis and is sensitive to the IR-field waveform. Our which-time information scheme provides further confirmation of the wave-particle duality.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2511.21094

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Attosecond streaking camera is an ex situ technique in which a linearly polarized (LP) XUV attopulse produces an electron wavepacket by photoionization in the presence of an IR femtopulse. By moving the two synchronous oppositely circularly polarized XUV pulses (that make the ionizing LP pulse) apart in time, we propose an attosecond double-slit streak camera scheme to see information loss in polarization-dependent two-slit phenomena. Such streaking interferogram is then composed of several Feynman's thought experiments in time domain, in which electrons are affected by the IR pulse as they exit the two attoslits upon XUV ionization processes to form Archimedean spiral patterns. As a proof-of-principle, when the IR femtofield and first XUV attopulse are synchronous, a loss of contrast through dephasing is seen in the simulated momentum and energy distributions of the photoelectron. It is shown that the contrast between bright and dark interference fringes diminishes predominantly along the IR-field polarization axis and is sensitive to the IR-field waveform. Our which-time information scheme provides further confirmation of the wave-particle duality.
By the numerical solution to the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation, we observe a remarkable asymmetry in the photoelectron streaking spectra when the He+{\mathrm{He}}^{+}He+ ion is ionized by an attosecond pulse from the 2s2s2s state in the presence of a weak infrared pulse. An analytical theory based on the modified perturbation theory is developed to quantitatively account for the underlying mechanism. We find that a transition occurs between the degenerate 2s2s2s and 2p2p2p states under the influence of the infrared electric field before the arrival of the attosecond pulse. The observed asymmetry in the attosecond streaking is formed by the interference of photoelectrons ionized from the 2s2s2s and 2p2p2p states. Using the sensitivity of the asymmetry to the infrared (IR) electric field at the moment of attosecond photoionization, we show that the present finding provides a highly reliable way to fully characterize the IR waveform in the streaking experiment.
We present a theoretical study of photoelectron emission of a homonuclear molecule by an attosecond xuv pulse, which can be regarded as a natural double-slit experiment. We show that attosecond electron motion inside the molecule opens one to two 'slits' for photoionization. Interference fringes in the angle-resolved photoelectron momentum distributions exhibit varying visibility (V), depending on the degree of which-path information (P). The complementarity relation, P2 + V2 ≤ 1, is verified in the time-dependent molecule double-slit experiment. Hence, the electron motion can be easily mapped out by measuring the interference visibility. This opens up the prospect of employing interferometric techniques to probe ultrafast intramolecular electronic motions.
Summary form only given. Angstrom and attosecond control of free electron wave packets is one of the pinnacles of attosecond science. Orthogonally polarized two-color (OTC) laser fields allow to control the motion of field-ionizing electronic wave packets both in time and space[1]. In OTC pulses time and space are connected and thus an attosecond time scale is established in the polarization plane for both the emitted and the re-colliding wave packets[2,3].In this submission, we report on experiments that use OTC pulses for studying atomic single and double ionization. The three-dimensional momentum vector of electrons and ions created by single and double ionization of neon atoms was measured with the COLTRIMS technique as a function of the sub-cycle shape of the OTC pulses. We introduce a concept similar to attosecond streaking that allows reading sub-cycle timing information from the momentum vector of emitted electrons. The concept is then applied to gaining information about the influence of the long-range Coulomb potential on the trajectories of tunneling electrons.Fig.1 (a) shows the measured momentum distributions of electrons correlated with singly ionized neon in the polarization plane of the OTC field with relative phase Δφ between the two color components. The spectra show that the electron emission direction is sensitive to Δφ. Furthermore, the spectra feature a prominent x-shaped central structure and weaker fine-scale modulations due to wave packet interferences. To compare with simulated spectra with strong field approximation (SFA) and solving two-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) with single active electron approximation, we conclude that Coulomb effect plays important role on the spatial distribution of released electron wave packets. In the conference, we will furthermore demonstrate control over the correlation between the two electrons emitted during double ionization upon electron recollision by tuning the shape of the electric field of the OTC pulses on the sub-cycle scale. The results of these experiments are in agreement with theoretical predictions [4].
We study a temporal version of Young's interference experiment by attosecond soft-x-ray pulses. The photoelectron energy spectra by attosecond double pulses exhibit an interference pattern, since we have no information on which pulse has generated the electron. We can re-establish the ``which-way'' information and control the interference visibility by changing the electron's momentum with phase-stabilized laser pulses, by an amount depending on the time of ionization. Moreover, if we use a triple pulse, we can realize a situation where the electron passes through a single and a double slit simultaneously to the same direction and is observed by the same detector.
A semiclassical model is developed to understand the electronic dynamics in the low-energy attosecond streaking. Under a relatively strong infrared (IR) pulse, the low-energy part of photoelectrons initialized by a single attosecond pulse (SAP) can either rescatter with the ionic core and induce interferences structures in the momentum spectra of the ionized electrons or be recaptured into the Rydberg states. The Coulomb potential plays essential roles in both the electron rescattering and recapturing processes. We find that by changing the time delay between the SAP and the IR pulse, the photoelectrons yield or the population of the Rydberg states can be effectively controlled. The present study demonstrates a fascinating way to steer the electron motion in the continuum.
A new scheme for a double-slit experiment in the time domain is presented. Phase-stabilized few-cycle laser pulses open one to two windows (slits) of attosecond duration for photoionization. Fringes in the angle-resolved energy spectrum of varying visibility depending on the degree of which-way information are measured. A situation in which one and the same electron encounters a single and a double slit at the same time is observed. The investigation of the fringes makes possible interferometry on the attosecond time scale. From the number of visible fringes, for example, one derives that the slits are extended over about 500 as.