Speaker: Hadas Soifer, SIMES
Program Description
The interaction between an intense ultrafast laser pulse with a gas of atoms and molecules can lead to the emission of attosecond-duration XUV pulses through a process known as High-Harmonic Generation (HHG). This strong-field process provides unique insight into the structure as well as the dynamics of electronic wavefunctions in atoms and molecules. While the attosecond XUV pulse can be used in subsequent experiments, we only measure its spectrum and perform in situ measurements of the generation process itself. In my talk I will highlight how by tailoring the strong laser pulse we can manipulate the HHG process and resolve both spatial and temporal electronic properties.
I will describe how, by adding a weak perturbation, we manipulate the electronic trajectories to resolve the attosecond dynamics of electron tunneling through an oscillating barrier, and probe subtle differences between two ionization channels in aligned CO2 molecules. Further, we combine control of the medium and of the HHG process to demonstrate an ‘intra-molecular interferometer’ and obtain molecular-orbital phase information.
