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Experimental observation of ultrashort laser pulse effects on the autoionization dynamics of argon atoms

Arso Ivanovic

Published Dec 22, 2017• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Within this work, electron dynamics inside argon atoms are observed by probing the autoionizing states of argon atoms, so-called window resonances, with both attosecond XUV and timed-delayed few-cycle femtosecond NIR laser pulses, using attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The window resonances in the energy region of 25 - 29.3 eV are first excited with the XUV pulse and then dressed by the NIR laser, where the natural decay process of the states is greatly affected by the strong-field of the NIR pulse. Preliminary results of the measurement are presented in this work, with a hypothetical description of some of the effects that are present. A comparison has been made with the experimental results from a paper publishing measurements of autoionizing states with attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy for the first time, where the same resonances were probed. The comparison is only partly possible due to different experimental parameters and conditions, where more pronounced and new effects have been observed in the here performed measurement.

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Within this work, electron dynamics inside argon atoms are observed by probing the autoionizing states of argon atoms, so-called window resonances, with both attosecond XUV and timed-delayed few-cycle femtosecond NIR laser pulses, using attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The window resonances in the energy region of 25 - 29.3 eV are first excited with the XUV pulse and then dressed by the NIR laser, where the natural decay process of the states is greatly affected by the strong-field of the NIR pulse. Preliminary results of the measurement are presented in this work, with a hypothetical description of some of the effects that are present. A comparison has been made with the experimental results from a paper publishing measurements of autoionizing states with attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy for the first time, where the same resonances were probed. The comparison is only partly possible due to different experimental parameters and conditions, where more pronounced and new effects have been observed in the here performed measurement.
Autoionization of argon atoms was studied experimentally by transient absorption spectroscopy with isolated attosecond pulses. The peak position, intensity, linewidth, and shape of the 3s3p⁶np ¹P Fano resonance series (26.6-29.2 eV) were modified by intense few-cycle near infrared laser pulses, while the delay between the attosecond pulse and the laser pulse was changed by a few femtoseconds. Numerical simulations revealed that the experimentally observed splitting of the 3s3p⁶4p ¹P line is caused by the coupling between two short-lived highly excited states in the strong laser field.
We demonstrate Rabi oscillations in nonlinear ionization of argon by an intense femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) laser field produced by high-harmonic generation. We monitor the formation of Ar2+\mathrm{A}{\mathrm{r}}^{2+}Ar2+ as a function of the time delay between the XUV pulse and an additional near-infrared (NIR) femtosecond laser pulse, and show that the population of an Ar+∗\mathrm{A}{\mathrm{r}}^{+*}Ar+∗ intermediate resonance exhibits strong modulations both due to an NIR laser-induced Stark shift and XUV-induced Rabi cycling between the ground state of Ar+\mathrm{A}{\mathrm{r}}^{+}Ar+ and the Ar+∗\mathrm{A}{\mathrm{r}}^{+*}Ar+∗ excited state. Our experiment represents a direct experimental observation of a Rabi-cycling process in the XUV regime.
In the present paper, we investigate the time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy of doubly excited states of helium atoms by solving the time-dependent two-electron Schr\"odinger equation numerically based on a one-dimensional model. The helium atoms are subjected to an extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulse and a time-delayed infrared (IR) few-cycle laser pulse. A superposition of doubly excited states populated by the XUV pulse is identified, which interferes with the direct ionization pathway leading to Fano resonance profiles in the photoabsorption spectrum. In the presence of an IR laser, however, the Fano line profiles are strongly modified: A shifting, splitting, and broadening of the original absorption lines is observed when the XUV attosecond pulse and infrared few-cycle laser pulse overlap in time, which is in good agreement with recent experimental results. At certain time delays, we observe symmetric Lorentz, inverted Fano profiles, and even negative absorption cross sections indicating that the XUV light can be amplified during the interaction with atoms. We further prove that the above pictures are general for different doubly excited states by suitably varying the frequency of the IR field to coherently couple the corresponding states.
Ultrafast spectroscopy with attosecond resolution has enabled the real time observation of ultrafast electron dynamics in atoms, molecules and solids. These experiments employ attosecond pulses or pulse trains and explore dynamical processes in a pump-probe scheme that is selectively sensitive to electronic state of matter via photoelectron or XUV absorption spectroscopy or that includes changes of the ionic state detected via photo-ion mass spectrometry. Here, we demonstrate how the implementation of combined photo-ion and absorption spectroscopy with attosecond resolution enables tracking the complex multidimensional excitation and decay cascade of an Auger auto-ionization process of a few femtoseconds in highly excited krypton. In tandem with theory, our study reveals the role of intermediate electronic states in the formation of multiply charged ions. Amplitude tuning of a dressing laser field addresses different groups of decay channels and allows exerting temporal and quantitative control over the ionization dynamics in rare gas atoms.
We study theoretically the photoabsorption spectra of an attosecond extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulse by a laser-dressed atomic system. A weak XUV excites an autoionizing state which is strongly coupled to another autoionizing state by a laser. The theory was applied to explain two recent experiments [Loh, Greene, and Leone, Chem. Phys. 350, 7 (2008); Wang, Chini, Chen, Zhang, Cheng, He, Cheng, Wu, Thumm, and Chang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 143002 (2010)] where the absorption spectra of the XUV lights were measured against the time delay between the laser and the XUV. In another example, we study an attosecond pulse exciting the 2s2p(1P)2s2p{(}^{1}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}P)2s2p(1P) resonance of helium which is resonantly coupled to the 2s2(1S)2{s}^{2}{(}^{1}\phantom{\rule{-0.16em}{0ex}}S)2s2(1S) resonance by a moderately intense 540-nm laser. The relation between the photoabsorption spectra and the photoelectron spectra and the modification of the transmitted lights in such an experiment are analyzed. The role of Rabi flopping between the two autoionizing states within their lifetimes is investigated with respect to the laser intensity and detuning.
Using attosecond transient absorption, the dipole response of an argon atom in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) region is studied when an external electromagnetic field is present. An isolated attosecond VUV pulse populates Rydberg states lying 15 eV above the argon ground state. A synchronized few-cycle near infrared (NIR) pulse modifies the oscillating dipoles of argon impulsively, leading to alterations in the VUV absorption spectra. As the NIR pulse is delayed with respect to the VUV pulse, multiple features in the absorption profile emerge simultaneously including line broadening, sideband structure, sub-cycle fast modulations, and 5–10 fs slow modulations. These features indicate the coexistence of two general processes of the light–matter interaction: the energy shift of individual atomic levels and coherent population transfer between atomic eigenstates, revealing coherent superpositions. An intuitive formula is derived to treat both effects in a unifying framework, allowing one to identify and quantify the two processes in a single absorption spectrogram.