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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

An Experimental Protocol for Femtosecond NIR/UV - XUV Pump-Probe Experiments with Free-Electron Lasers
Published on: October 23, 2018
Photoemission of a single-electron wave packet in a strong laser field
Justin Peatross1, Carsten Müller, Karen Z Hatsagortsyan
1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg, Germany. peat@byu.edu
Abstract:
The radiation emitted by a single-electron wave packet in an intense laser field is considered. A relation between the exact quantum formulation and its classical counterpart is established via the electron's Wigner function. In particular, we show that the wave packet, even when it spreads to the scale of the wavelength of the driving laser field, cannot be treated as an extended classical charge distribution, but rather behaves as a pointlike emitter carrying information on its initial quantum state. We outline an experimental setup dedicated to put this conclusion to the test.
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