Direct evidences for inner-shell electron-excitation by laser induced electron recollision

TL;DR

This paper presents direct experimental evidence that laser-induced electron recollision can excite inner-shell electrons, enabling sub-femtosecond core-hole studies in the keV range without relying on traditional XUV sources.

Contribution

It demonstrates for the first time that inner-shell electron excitation can be achieved via laser-induced electron recollision, advancing attosecond metrology into the inner-shell regime.

Findings

Evidence of inner-shell excitation via recollision

Potential for sub-femtosecond core-hole dynamics studies

Use of 1800nm laser source for inner-shell processes

Abstract

Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulses, generated by a process known as laser-induced electron recollision, are a key ingredient for attosecond metrology, providing a tool to precisely initiate and probe sub-femtosecond dynamics in the microcosms of atoms, molecules and solids[1]. However, with the current technology, extending attosecond metrology to scrutinize the dynamics of the inner-shell electrons is a challenge, that is because of the lower efficiency in generating the required soft x-ray \hbar\omega>300 eV attosecond bursts and the lower absorption cross-sections in this spectral range. A way around this problem is to use the recolliding electron to directly initiate the desired inner-shell process, instead of using the currently low flux x-ray attosecond sources.Such an excitation process occurs in a sub-femtosecond timescale, and may provide the necessary "pump" step in a pump-probe experiment[2]. Here we used a few cycle infrared \lambda_{0}~1800nm source[3] and observed direct evidences for inner-shell excitations through the laser-induced electron recollision process. It is the first step toward time-resolved core-hole studies in the keV energy range with sub-femtosecond time resolution.