Vectorial Phase Retrieval for Linear Characterization of Attosecond Pulses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel linear, all-optical method for characterizing attosecond pulses using spectral interference, improving sensitivity and reducing complexity compared to existing techniques.

Contribution

The authors develop a new spectral polarization measurement technique based on phase retrieval algorithms for attosecond pulse characterization.

Findings

Successfully reconstructed attosecond pulse profiles from aligned CO2 molecules.

Demonstrated numerical feasibility of the method for pulse temporal profile retrieval.

Proposed method simplifies experimental setup for attosecond pulse measurement.

Abstract

The waveforms of attosecond pulses produced by high-harmonic generation carry information on the electronic structure and dynamics in atomic and molecular systems. Current methods for the temporal characterization of such pulses have limited sensitivity and impose significant experimental complexity. We propose a new linear and all-optical method inspired by widely-used multi-dimensional phase retrieval algorithms. Our new scheme is based on the spectral measurement of two attosecond sources and their interference. As an example, we focus on the case of spectral polarization measurements of attosecond pulses, relying on their most fundamental property -- being well confined in time. We demonstrate this method numerically reconstructing the temporal profiles of attosecond pulses generated from aligned $CO_2$ molecules.