Attosecond chirp-encoded dynamics of light nuclei Attosecond chirp-encoded dynamics of light nuclei

Stefan Haessler (1) , W Boutu (1) , M Stankiewicz (2) , L J Frasinski (3) , Sébastien J. Weber (1) , J Caillat (4) , R Taïeb (4) , A Maquet (4) , P Breger (1) , P Monchicourt (1) , B Carré (1) , Pascal Salières (1)

1 SPAM - Service des Photons, Atomes et Molécules
2 UJ - Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie = Jagiellonian University
3 Quantum Optics and Laser Science, Blackett Laboratory
4 LCPMR - Laboratoire de Chimie Physique - Matière et Rayonnement

We study the spectral phase of high-order harmonic emission as an observable for probing ultrafast nuclear dynamics after the ionization of a molecule. Using a strong-field approximation theory that includes nuclear dynamics, we relate the harmonic phase to the phase of the overlap integral of the nuclear wavefunctions of the initial neutral molecule and the molecular ion after an attosecond probe delay. We determine experimentally the group delay of the high harmonic emission from D 2 and H 2 molecules, which allows us to verify the relation between harmonic frequency and the attosecond delay. The small difference in the harmonic phase between H 2 and D 2 calculated theoretically is consistent with our experimental results.

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Stefan Haessler, W Boutu, M Stankiewicz, L J Frasinski, Sébastien J. Weber, et al.. Attosecond chirp-encoded dynamics of light nuclei Attosecond chirp-encoded dynamics of light nuclei. Journal of Physics B: Atomic and Molecular Physics, 2009, 42, pp.134002. ⟨10.1088/0953-4075/42/13/134002⟩. ⟨hal-01164781⟩