Attosecond resolved charging of clusters

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel attosecond probing scheme to observe dissipative multi-electron dynamics in clusters, providing new insights into energy absorption mechanisms during intense VUV pulses.

Contribution

It introduces a method to resolve multi-electron dissipative processes in clusters using attosecond pulses, surpassing limitations of traditional energy-domain techniques.

Findings

Demonstrates attosecond pulses can reveal electron dynamics lost at later times

Proposes resolving the energy absorption controversy in rare-gas clusters

Shows potential for experimental implementation in strong VUV pulse studies

Abstract

Attosecond laser pulses open the door to resolve microscopic electron dynamics in time. Experiments performed include the decay of a core hole, the time-resolved measurement of photo ionization and electron tunneling. The processes investigated share the coherent character of the dynamics involving very few, ideally one active electron. Here, we introduce a scheme to probe dissipative multi-electron motion in time. In this context attosecond probing enables one to obtain information which is lost at later times and cannot be retrieved by conventional methods in the energy domain due to the incoherent nature of the dynamics. As a specific example we will discuss the charging of a rare-gas cluster during a strong femtosecond pulse with attosecond pulses. The example illustrates the proposed use of attosecond pulses and suggests an experimental resolution of a controversy about the mechanism of energy absorption by rare-gas clusters in strong vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) pulses.