Electron spin polarization in strong-field ionization of Xenon atoms

TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental detection of electron spin polarization resulting from strong-field ionization of Xenon atoms, revealing up to 30% spin polarization that varies with electron energy, thus opening new avenues in ultrafast spin physics.

Contribution

The study provides the first experimental evidence of electron spin polarization in strong-field ionization of Xenon, supported by theoretical analysis, and introduces a new dimension to strong-field physics.

Findings

Up to 30% electron spin polarization observed.

Spin polarization changes sign with electron energy.

Supports potential applications in ultrafast spintronics and magnetic probing.

Abstract

As a fundamental property of the electron, the spin plays a decisive role in the electronic structure of matter from solids to molecules and atoms, e.g. causing magnetism. Yet, despite its importance, the spin dynamics of electrons released during the interaction of atoms with strong ultrashort laser pulses has remained unexplored. Here we report on the experimental detection of electron spin polarization by strong-field ionization of Xenon atoms and support our results by theoretical analysis. We found up to 30% spin polarization changing its sign with electron energy. This work opens the new dimension of spin to strong-field physics. It paves the way to production of subfemtosecond spin polarized electron pulses with applications ranging from probing magnetic properties of matter at ultrafast time scales to testing chiral molecular systems with subfemtosecond temporal and sub-{\AA}ngstr\"om spatial resolution.