Probe of Multi-electron Dynamics in Xenon by Caustics in High Order Harmonic Generation

TL;DR

This paper uses two-color high-order harmonic generation spectroscopy to explore multi-electron dynamics and giant resonance phenomena in Xenon, demonstrating control over spectral features and agreement with theoretical models.

Contribution

It introduces a phase-controlled two-color field technique to investigate electron correlations and giant resonances in Xenon through spectral caustics in harmonic generation.

Findings

Spectral caustics appear at two distinct cut-off energies.

Phase delay control enables amplification and isolation of spectral features.

Experimental results align well with theoretical predictions.

Abstract

We investigated the giant resonance in Xenon by high-order harmonic generation spectroscopy driven by a two-color field. The addition of a non-perturbative second harmonic component parallel to the driving field breaks the symmetry between neighboring sub-cycles resulting in the appearance of spectral caustics at two distinct cut-off energies. By controlling the phase delay between the two color components it is possible to tailor the harmonic emission in order to amplify and isolate the spectral feature of interest. In this paper we demonstrate how this control scheme can be used to investigate the role of electron correlations that give birth to the giant resonance in Xenon. The collective excitations of the giant dipole resonance in Xenon combined with the spectral manipulation associated with the two color driving field allow to see features that are normally not accessible and to obtain a quantitative good agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions.