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Optics Express

Attosecond photoemission delay in the inhomogeneous field

Feng Wang, Zhangtao Xiong, Xiaofan Zhang, Qing Liao, Peixiang Lu

Published Nov 5, 2021• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We investigate the photoemission process of the hydrogen atom in a spatial-dependent infrared (IR) field. The results show that the inhomogeneous field induces an additional contribution to the photoemission time delay, which results in the increase (decrease) of the photoemission time delay due to the enhancement (decay) of the IR field intensity in space when compared to the case in the homogeneous field. Based on the photoemission time delay in the inhomogeneous field, we demonstrate a method to extract the inhomogeneous parameter that is vital for characterizing the spatial distribution of IR field. The proposed method might pave an accessible route toward describing the plasmon-enhanced fields in the vicinity of a nanostructure.

DOI
10.1364/oe.441986

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We investigate the photoemission process of the hydrogen atom in a spatial-dependent infrared (IR) field. The results show that the inhomogeneous field induces an additional contribution to the photoemission time delay, which results in the increase (decrease) of the photoemission time delay due to the enhancement (decay) of the IR field intensity in space when compared to the case in the homogeneous field. Based on the photoemission time delay in the inhomogeneous field, we demonstrate a method to extract the inhomogeneous parameter that is vital for characterizing the spatial distribution of IR field. The proposed method might pave an accessible route toward describing the plasmon-enhanced fields in the vicinity of a nanostructure.
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We solve the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for a noble gas atom (He and Ne) driven by an ionizing XUV and dressing IR fields. From this solution we deduce an angular dependence of the photoemission time delay as measured by the RABBITT (reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions) technique. We use a recent angle-resolved RABBITT measurement on helium [S. Heuser et al., Phys. Rev. A 94, 063409 (2016)] to test and calibrate our theoretical model. Based on this calibration, we find no significant difference between the time delay in He measured in the angle-integrated RABBITT experiments [C. Palatchi et al., J. Phys. B 47, 245003 (2014) and D. Gu\'enot et al., J. Phys. B 47, 245602 (2014)] and measured or calculated in the polarization axis direction. The angular dependence of the photoemission time delay of Ne is shown to be qualitatively different from He because of the different orbital character of the valence 2p2p2p orbital. The angular momentum projection dependence of the time delay in Ne is also investigated.
Abstract Atomic photoionization time delay is a vital component of attosecond metrology for investigating the ultrafast electron dynamics in atomic systems on their natural time scale. Here, we probe the factor which leads to the nonperturbative characteristics of resonant photoionization time delay (RPTD) of atomic hydrogen by numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) and the strong-field nonperturbation theory (SFNPT) with considering the population depletion and ac-Stark energy shift of ground state. RPTD can be retrieved from the energy-resolved optical phase of a bicircular two-color field corresponding to the maximal asymmetry of photoelectron angular distribution even in the nonperturbative regime. Our results reveal that as laser intensity increases the RPTD shows a remarkable difference of energy-dependent behaviors. At lower intensity, the absolute value of RPTD displays a smooth drop with increasing electron energy, however, at higher intensity its absolute value exhibits an obvious enhancement. Given the agreement between TDSE and SFNPT, we clearly elucidate the physical origin of nonperturbative characteristics, i.e., the population depletion of ground state plays a crucial role rather than ac-Stark energy shift. More specifically, the population depletion severely affects the Fourier transformation of the laser envelope, which is an important phase component of transition amplitude. Our work clarifies the physical mechanism of atomic photoionization time delay in nonperturbative environments, advancing the comprehensive understanding of time in attosecond science.
We calculate the transient absorption of an isolated attosecond pulse (IAP) by helium atoms subject to a delayed infrared (IR) laser pulse. With the central frequency of the broad attosecond spectrum near the ionization threshold, the absorption spectrum is strongly modulated at the sub-IR-cycle level. Given that the absorption spectrum results from a time-integrated measurement, we investigate the extent to which the delay dependence of the absorption yields information about the attosecond dynamics of the atom-field energy exchange. We find two configurations in which this is possible. The first involves multiphoton transitions between bound states that result in interference between different excitation pathways. The second involves the modification of the bound state absorption lines by the IR field, which we find can result in a subcycle time dependence only when ionization limits the duration of the strong-field interaction.
Based on the numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation within the single-active-electron approximation, we propose a method for observing instantaneous atomic level shifts in an oscillating strong infrared (IR) field with sub-IR-cycle time resolution, by using a single tunable attosecond (SA) pulse to probe excited states of the perturbed atom. The ionization probability in the combined fields depends on both the frequency of the attosecond pulse and the time delay between both pulses, since the IR field periodically shifts SA-pulse-excited energy levels into and out of resonance.
Reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions is a cornerstone technique of attosecond chronoscopy, routinely used to extract photoemission delays from the phase of sideband oscillations. Here, we theoretically investigate the reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions protocol driven by quantum light and demonstrate that it is intrinsically sensitive to the quantum nature of the driving field. When the probe field is prepared in a nonclassical state, its photon statistics are imprinted onto photoelectrons via continuum-continuum transitions, giving rise to an additional time delay of several tens of attoseconds. We trace this delay to the phase associated with the second-order anomalous moment ⟨a[over ^]^{2}⟩ of the probe field. Extending the framework to a three-sideband configuration, which enables retrieval of the fourth-order anomalous moment ⟨a[over ^]^{4}⟩, we show that the interferometer exhibits significantly enhanced sensitivity to quantum fluctuations. Our work illustrates quantum attosecond photoelectron interferometry as a phase-sensitive probe of quantum light, offering a promising route for time-resolved quantum metrology at the attosecond scale.