Optical control of resonant Auger processes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how strong optical fields can control core-excited state populations and Auger electron emissions in neon, revealing new ways to manipulate ultrafast atomic processes.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for optical manipulation of core-excited states during their decay, focusing on neon's resonant excitation and Auger electron spectra.

Findings

Optical fields can induce population transfer between core-excited states.

The Auger electron spectrum shows sidebands due to optical dressing.

Inner-shell population transfer is observable via spectral analysis.

Abstract

We theoretically show that core-excited state populations can be efficiently manipulated with strong optical fields during their decay, which takes place in a few femtoseconds. We focus on the $1s^{-1}3p$ resonant excitation in neon, where the $1s^{-1}3p$ and $1s^{-1}3s$ core-excited states are coupled by an optical field. By analyzing the Auger electron spectrum we observe the inner-shell population transfer induced by the optical coupling. We also show that the angular anisotropy of the Auger electron is imprinted in the multipeak structure induced by the optical-dressed continuum, namely sidebands.