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Direct mapping of attosecond electron dynamics

Nature Photonics volume 15, pages 216–221 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

The subcycle interaction of light and electrons has been one of the key frontiers in free-electron lasers, attosecond science and dynamical investigation of matter. Capturing the underlying subcycle dynamics of electrons with an optical field promises fascinating vistas with unprecedented temporal resolution. Yet the rigorous synchronization requirement has kept its realization out of reach. Here, by direct spatial observation of periodic electron bunch fringes, we demonstrate a laser streaking concept for revealing the dynamics of free electrons emitted from a plasma mirror under sub-relativistic laser intensity. Field-induced electron beam deflection demonstrates subcycle charge dynamics with a streaking speed of ~60 μrad as−1. This provides us with an attosecond-resolution metrology to obtain more direct evidence about the light-field-induced electron dynamics in the plasma mirror. Our results offer unprecedented characterization of attosecond dynamics and open the way to extensive experimental investigations of the interaction of attosecond electrons with intense lasers.

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Fig. 1: Laser streaking of the attosecond electron pulse trains.
Fig. 2: Experimental evidence of laser streaking of attosecond electron pulse trains.
Fig. 3: Calculated phase space and angular distributions of electrons emitted from a plasma mirror with different ejection times with respect to the peak of the reflected laser pulse.
Fig. 4: Time-to-space mapping during the laser streaking of attosecond electron pulse trains.

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Data availability

All relevant data are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Code availability

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

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos 11874372, 11922412 and 11974251), Shanghai Sailing Program (grant no. 20YF1454900), Strategic Priority Research Program (B) (grant no. XDB16), Shanghai Rising-Star Program, Shanghai Commission of Science and Technology (no. 19PJ1410500), the 100 Talents Program of CAS, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS, grant no. ZDBS-LY-SLH018.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Chuliang Zhou, Yafeng Bai.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-intense Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, P. R. China

    Chuliang Zhou, Yafeng Bai, Liwei Song, Yushan Zeng, Yi Xu, Dongdong Zhang, Xiaoming Lu, Yuxin Leng, Ye Tian, Ruxin Li & Zhizhan Xu

  2. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China

    Chuliang Zhou, Yushan Zeng, Dongdong Zhang, Yuxin Leng, Ye Tian, Ruxin Li & Zhizhan Xu

  3. Department of Physics, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Jiansheng Liu

  4. ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, P. R. China

    Ruxin Li

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Contributions

C.Z., Y.B. and Y. T. performed the experiment. C.Z., Y.B., L.S., Y.Z. and D.Z. analysed the data with Y.T., J.L, R.L and Z.X.; C.Z. performed the PIC simulations. Y.B. and Y.T. developed the test particle model. Y.X., X.L. and Y.L. developed and maintained the laser sources. All authors participated in the interpretation of the results. C.Z., Y.Z. and Y.T. wrote the manuscript. R.L., J.L. and Y.T. designed and directed the project.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiansheng Liu, Ye Tian or Ruxin Li.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Photonics thanks Mohammed Hassan, Hidemi Shigekawa and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–3 and Discussion.

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Zhou, C., Bai, Y., Song, L. et al. Direct mapping of attosecond electron dynamics. Nat. Photonics 15, 216–221 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-00730-6

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