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Spatial molecular interferometry via multidimensional high-harmonic spectroscopy

Nature Photonics volume 14, pages 188–194 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Interferometry is a basic tool to resolve coherent properties in a wide range of light or matter wave phenomena. In the strong-field regime, interferometry serves as a fundamental building block in revealing ultrafast electron dynamics. In this work we manipulate strong-field-driven electron trajectories and probe the coherence of a molecular wavefunction by inducing an interferometer on a microscopic level. The two arms of the interferometer are controlled by a two-colour field, while the interference pattern is read via advanced, three-dimensional high-harmonic spectroscopy. This scheme recovers the spectral phase information associated with the structure of molecular orbitals, as well as the spatial properties of the interaction itself. Zooming into one of the most fundamental strong-field phenomena—field-induced tunnel ionization—we reconstruct the angle at which the electronic wavefunction tunnels through the barrier and follow its evolution with attosecond precision.

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Fig. 1: Schematic description of molecular interferometry.
Fig. 2: Reconstruction of the HHG phase as a function of molecular alignment angle.
Fig. 3: Recombination and ionization amplitude interferometry.
Fig. 4: Decoupling ionization and recombination amplitudes.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Orenstein and M. Kruger for helpful discussions and Z. Masin for his theoretical support. N.D. is the incumbent of the Robin Chemers Neustein Professorial Chair. N.D. acknowledges the Minerva Foundation, the Israeli Science Foundation, the Crown Center of Photonics and the European Research Council for financial support. O.S. and M.I. acknowledge support of the DFG QUTIF grants. M.I. acknowledges support of EPSRC/DSTL MURI grant no. EP/N018680/1.

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Author notes

  1. Hadas Soifer

    Present address: Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

    Ayelet J. Uzan, Hadas Soifer, Oren Pedatzur, Barry D. Bruner & Nirit Dudovich

  2. Université de Bordeaux – CNRS – CEA, CELIA, UMR5107, Talence, France

    Alex Clergerie, Sylvain Larroque & Bernard Pons

  3. Max-Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Berlin, Germany

    Misha Ivanov & Olga Smirnova

  4. Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Misha Ivanov

  5. Department of Physics, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

    Misha Ivanov

  6. Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst-Ruska-Gebaüde, Berlin, Germany

    Olga Smirnova

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Contributions

N.D., O.S., M.I. and B.P. supervised the study. A.J.U., H.S. and B.D.B. designed and built the experimental set-up. A.J.U., H.S. and O.P. carried out the measurements and analysed the data. M.I. and O.S. conceived and performed the theoretical calculations. A.C., S.L. and B.P. developed and studied the theoretical analysis of the Coulomb effects. A.J.U., H.S. and N.D. interpreted the experimental and theoretical results. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nirit Dudovich.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–14, detailed description of the theory, numeric calculations and discussion.

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Uzan, A.J., Soifer, H., Pedatzur, O. et al. Spatial molecular interferometry via multidimensional high-harmonic spectroscopy. Nat. Photonics 14, 188–194 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0584-2

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