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Attosecond pulse extreme-ultraviolet photoionization in a two-color laser field

Yiping Huo, Zhinan Zeng, Yuxin Leng, Ruxin Li, and Zhizhan Xu
Key Laboratory for High Intensity Optics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China

Chunlei Guo
The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

Zhenrong Sun
Department of Physics, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200032, China

Yongjoo Rhee
Laboratory for Quantum Optics, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, P.O. Box 105, Yusong, Taejon 305-600, Korea Received August 30, 2004 Attosecond-pulse extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) photoionization in a two-color laser field is investigated. Attosecond pulse trains with different numbers of pulses are examined, and their strong dependence on photoelectronic spectra is found. Single-color driving-laser-field-assisted attosecond XUV photoionization cannot determine the number of attosecond pulses from the photoelectronic energy spectrum that are detected orthogonally to the beam direction and the electric field vector of the linearly polarized laser field. A two-color-field-assisted XUV photoionization scheme is proposed for directly determining the number of attosecond pulses from a spectrum detected orthogonally. 2005 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 320.7100, 320.7150, 300.6560.

Since the generation of 650-as extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulses,1,2 attosecond physics became a reality, promising fundamentally important applications in a number of areas.3 6 Attosecond pulses may be generated by high-harmonic generation not only as attosecond single pulses but as attosecond pulse trains that consist of two or more comparably strong pulses separated by multiples of one half of a fundamental laser period, depending on the duration and the carrier-envelope phase of the laser pulse.7 Although the photoelectronic spectrum contains information on the number of pulses, an unambiguous determination of the number of attosecond pulses in a pulse train requires additional evidence. A method with which to distinguish the number of attosecond pulses is attosecond cross correlation.8 This method is applicable only when the XUV photoelectronic energy is smaller than the ionization potential of an atom. Driving-laserassisted attosecond XUV photoionization is an important method for the characterization of a single attosecond pulse.1,2,9 12 Although detection geometry that is orthogonal to the beam direction and to the electric field vector of a laser field has the advantage of avoiding above-threshold ionization electrons, one cannot distinguish the number of attosecond pulses from the spectrum in the orthogonal direction. In this Letter we investigate attosecond pulse XUV photoionization in the presence of a two-color field. Attosecond pulse trains with various numbers of attosecond pulses are considered, and their strong dependence on photoelectronic spectra is found. We demonstrate two-color-field-assisted XUV photoionization (where the fields are the fundamental laser and its second harmonic) to determine directly the
0146-9592/05/050564-03$15.00/0

number of attosecond pulses from a spectrum detected orthogonally. In the strong-field limit, the effect of the driving laser field on the XUV photoelectronic energy spectrum can be explained by a quasi-classic two-step model.2 First, a photoelectron is set free by an XUV photoelectron. Second, the photoelectron is accelerated as a classic particle by the electric field of the assisted laser. When the photoelectron is detected orthogonally, both the broadening and the position of the gravity of the photoelectronic energy spectrum are periodic functions of delay between the assisted laser and the attosecond pulses. A spectrum of single attosecond pulses is a continuum with a single peak, whereas a spectrum of attosecond pulse trains contains fringes as a result of coherent superposition. In the presence of an assisted laser f ield, both the continuum and the fringes are shifted as a function of delay. In the presence of an assisted laser f ield, the photoelectron energy spectrum can be calculated quantum mechanically. Atomic units (a.u.) are used in this research. Following Refs. 9 and 13, we obtain the amplitude of population of a state jv with kinetic momentum v at a moment T after the end of both the laser and the attosecond XUV pulses, i.e., Z
T

av T

2i

dtdp t EX t Z
t T

2`

! dt 1 2 p t
0 0 2

3 exp 2i

1 Ip

(1)

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where p t v 1 A t is the instantaneous kinetic momentum, and dp t is the dipole transition matrix element13 from the ground state to the continuum with kinetic momentum p t . The quantity of Eq. (1) depends mainly on the exponential term. So the shift of gravity of the spectrum is mostly decided by A t 2 . Equation (1) applies for all the directions of observation and laser polarization and is the basis of our simulations. Previously,1 the assisted field was the same as the intense linearly polarized laser pulse that generated attosecond pulses by means of high-harmonic generation and can be given by EL t E0 t sin vLt 1 a , (2)

where vL is the carrier frequency and a is the initial phase. E0 t E0 exp 2t2 t 2 denotes the envelope of the laser pulse, where E0 is the peak amplitude of the laser pulse and 2 ln 2 1 2 t is its FWHM. First, attosecond pulse trains that consist of two pulses with the same amplitude are considered. The shift in gravity of the photoelectronic energy spectrum depends mostly on the square vector potential of the laser field at the instant of ionization. For a different delay, the photoelectronic energy spectra produced by attosecond XUV pulses will undergo different vector potentials because of the ultrashort duration of the assisted laser, which may result in different separations of the two spectra. According to Rt 2 2` EL t dt, we can get the vector potential AL t of the laser f ield. In Fig. 1(a) the solid curve shows the square vector potential felt by the photoelectrons produced by the f irst pulse as a function of delay td , and the dashed curve shows that felt by the photoelectrons produced by the second pulses with a half-laser-cycle delay. At td 0, the vector potentials are most intense but the difference in square vector 0, the differpotentials is small. Apart from td ence in square vector potentials became larger but the square vector potential decreased. Figure 1(b) depicts the photoelectronic energy spectra produced by two attosecond pulses at zero delay (the f irst pulse coincides with the peak of the carrier envelope of the laser pulse) obtained with a laser pulse whose duration is 289.2561 a.u. (corresponding to 7-fs FWHM) and peak intensity is 0.0177 a.u. (corresponding to 6.19 3 1014 W cm2 ). The atom here is helium, whose ionization potential is 0.8996 a.u. (corresponding to 24.2781 eV). The duration of the XUV pulse is 5.4504 a.u. (corresponding to 132-as FWHM), and the photoelectronic energy of the XUV pulse is 4.41 a.u. (corresponding to 120 eV). The data clearly bring to light the modulation that results from the coherent superposition of the spectra produced by two attosecond pulses. Second, attosecond pulse trains that consist of three pulses are considered. Figure 1(c) depicts the spectrum produced by three attosecond pulses at zero delay (the middle pulse coincides with the peak of the carrier envelope of the laser pulse), and the fringes are the result of the coherent superposition of the spectra produced by all three. In the presence of a single-color-

assisted laser, the photoelectronic energy spectra produced by various pulses are shifted by amounts that differ only slightly and all take part in the coherent superposition. So the number of attosecond pulses cannot be distinguished from the spectrum detected from the orthogonal direction. To determine how to overcome this limitation we investigated XUV photoionization in the presence of a two-color laser f ield. The fundamental driving laser was divided into two beams. One beam was sent to generate an attosecond pulse, and the frequency of the other beam was doubled. After leaving the region of high-harmonic generation, the fundamental laser beam went to the photoionization region as in the previous research1,2,9 12; however, it was combined with the second-harmonic beam with some relay optics to assist in photoionization. The two-color field can be expressed by Ec t E0 t sin vL t 1 a 1 e sin 2vLt 1 b , (3)

where e 0 , e , 1 is the ratio of the peak amplitude of the second harmonic to that of the fundamental harmonic. For simplicity, we assume that initial phases a and b are zeros. In Fig. 2(a) the solid and dashed curves show the square vector potentials felt by the photoelectrons produced by adjacent XUV pulses. Differently from the case of a single-color field, at td 0 the square vector potentials are most intense and the difference in square vector potentials is largest, i.e., 0.6330 a.u., and 61 times larger than that for a single-color-assisted laser. For introduction of the second harmonic, the difference in square vector potentials is greatly increased. As a direct result, two spectra produced by adjacent attosecond pulses will be separated at zero delay when the difference

Fig. 1. Results of single-color-f ield-assisted attosecond XUV photoionization. (a) Solid and dashed curves, square vector potentials felt by photoelectrons produced by two adjacent attosecond pulses. Photoelectronic energy spectra produced by (a) two and (c) three attosecond pulses at zero delay.

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characterized as a spectrum with a continuum and fringes. The photoelectronic energy spectra produced by four attosecond pulses assisted by a 10-fs laser pulse is depicted in Fig. 2(e). The fringes appear over a large range, and a concave curve appears in the middle part. Only the spectra produced by two pulses delayed by a laser cycle are shifted to approximately the same position in energy space and can interfere with each other. When the attosecond pulse train consists of more pulses, the concave curve in the middle of fringes will disappear gradually. In summary, we have suggested a technique for directly determining numbers of attosecond pulses. A two-color-field was adopted as the assisted laser. For introduction of the second harmonic, the difference in square vector potentials felt by the photoelectrons produced by two adjacent XUV pulses increased at some delays. From the photoelectronic energy spectra detected orthogonally at zero delay, we can directly determine the number of attosecond pulses.
Fig. 2. Results of two-color-field-assisted attosecond XUV photoionization. (a) Solid and dashed curves, square vector potentials felt by the photoelectrons produced by two adjacent attosecond pulses. Photoelectronic energy spectra produced by (b) two and (c), (d) three attosecond pulses at zero delay. (e) Photoelectronic energy spectrum produced by four attosecond pulses at zero delay.

This study is supported partially by a Major Basic Research project of the Shanghai Commission of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Natural Science Foundation of China. Y. Huos e-mail address is huoyiping@mail.siom.ac.cn. References
1. M. Hentschel, R. Kienberger, Ch. Spielmann, G. A. Reider, N. Milosevic, T. Brabec, P. Corkum, U. Heinzmann, M. Drescher, and F. Krausz, Nature 414, 509 (2001). 2. M. Drescher, M. Hentschel, R. Kienberger, G. Tempea, C. Spielmann, G. A. Reider, P. B. Corkum, and F. Krausz, Science 291, 1923 (2001). 3. R. Kienberger, M. Hentschel, M. Uiberacker, Ch. Spielmann, M. Kitzler, A. Scrinzi, M. Wieland, Th. Westerwalbesloh, U. Kleineberg, U. Heinzmann, M. Drescher, and F. Krausz, Science 297, 1144 (2002). 4. H. Niikura, F. Lgar, R. Hasbani, A. D. Bandrauk, M. Yu. Ivanov, D. M. Villeneuve, and P. B. Corkum, Nature 417, 917 (2002). 5. A. D. Bandrauk and N. H. Shon, Phys. Rev. A 66, 031401(R) (2002). 6. A. D. Bandrauk, S. Chelkowski, and N. H. Shon, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 283903 (2002). 7. Z. Zeng, R. Li, W. Yu, and Z. Xu, Phys. Rev. A 67, 013815 (2003). 8. A. Scrinzi, M. Geissler, and T. Brabec, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 412 (2001). 9. J. Itatani, F. Qur, G. L. Yudin, M. Yu. Ivanov, F. Krausz, and P. B. Corkum, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 173903 (2002). 10. F. Qur, J. Itatani, G. L. Yudin, and P. B. Corkum, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 073902 (2003). 11. A. D. Bandrauk, S. Chelkowski, and N. H. Shon, Phys. Rev. A 68, 041802 (2003). 12. R. Kienberger, E. Goulielmakis, M. Uiberacker, A. Baltuska, V. Yakovlev, F. Bammer, A. Scrinzi, Th. Westerwalbesloh, U. Kleineberg, U. Heinzmann, M. Drescher, and F. Krausz, Nature 427, 817 (2004). 13. M. Lewenstein, Ph. Balcou, M. Yu. Ivanov, A. LHuillier, and P. B. Corkum, Phys. Rev. A 49, 2117 (1994).

in square vector potential is the largest. In Fig. 2(b) the curve shows the photoelectronic energy spectrum at zero delay produced by an attosecond pulse train with two pulses. At zero delay, the spectra produced by two pulses are all shifted toward the low-energy direction. The quantity shifted depends on the square vector potential felt by the photoelectron at the instant of ionization. For introduction of the second harmonic, the spectrum produced by one pulse is shifted greatly, whereas the spectrum produced by the other pulse with a half-cycle delay is shifted slightly. The spectrum is a continuum that is concave for the complete separation of two spectra. The two-color-assisted laser f ield in the calculation described by Eq. (3) is e 1 3. The magnitude of E0 is 0.1 a.u., and the peak intensity of the two-color field is 0.0177 a.u. Other conditions are the same as in Fig. 1. Figures 2(c) and 2(d) show the photoelectronic energy spectra produced by an attosecond pulse train consisting of three pulses with a 10-fs fundamental laser f ield. In Fig. 2(c) the spectrum has two parts: One is the fringes at the left of the concave curve, and the other is a continuum at the right. The photoelectronic energy spectra produced by two attosecond pulses with one laser cycle delay are both shifted greatly and interfere at the lower-energy part. The spectrum produced by the middle pulse is shifted slightly and does not participate in the coherent superposition. Figure 2(d) depicts another case of three pulses: Spectra produced by two pulses are shifted slightly and interfere at a higher-energy part, while the spectrum produced by the middle pulse is shifted greatly and appears as a continuum at higher energy. The spectrum produced by three pulses is