Ideal Two-Color Field Ratio for Holographic Angular Streaking of Electrons

TL;DR

This study investigates how the ratio of two-color laser fields affects sub-cycle interference patterns in electron momentum distributions during strong field ionization of molecular hydrogen, providing insights for future Wigner time delay measurements.

Contribution

It identifies optimal two-color field ratios for observing interference patterns, combining experimental measurements with semiclassical simulations to guide future holographic electron streaking experiments.

Findings

AHR pattern visibility depends on the two-color field ratio.

Low ratios favor similar pathway amplitudes for interference.

High ratios enhance phase difference for destructive interference.

Abstract

We study strong field ionization of molecular hydrogen in highly intense co-rotating two-color (CoRTC) laser fields. The measured electron momentum distributions show alternating half-rings (AHR) that are characteristic for sub-cycle interference. We report on the role of the two-color field ratio for the visibility of this sub-cycle interference. The ratio of the peak electric field at 780 nm compared to the peak electric field at 390 nm $E_{780}/E_{390}$ is varied from 0.037 to 0.18. We find very good agreement with the results from our semiclassical simulation. We conclude that the AHR pattern is visible if two conditions are fulfilled. First, the amplitudes of the two pathways that lead to the sub-cycle interference have to be similar, which is the case for low two-color field ratios $E_{780}/E_{390}$. Second, the phase difference of the two pathways must be strong enough to allow for destructive interference, which is the case for high two-color field ratios $E_{780}/E_{390}$. For typical experimental conditions, we find that two-color field ratios $E_{780}/E_{390}$ in the range from 0.037 to 0.12 lead to good visibility of the AHR pattern. This guides future experiments to measure the Wigner time delay using holographic angular streaking of electrons (HASE).