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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Three-dimensional momentum imaging of electron wave packet interference in few-cycle laser pulses
R Gopal1, K Simeonidis, R Moshammer
1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Abstract:
Using a reaction microscope, three-dimensional (3D) electron (and ion) momentum (P) spectra have been recorded for carrier-envelope-phase (CEP) stabilized few-cycle ( approximately 5 fs), intense ( approximately 4 x 10(14) W/cm2) laser pulses (740 nm) impinging on He. Preferential emission of low-energy electrons (E(e)<15 eV) to either hemisphere is observed as a function of the CEP. Clear interference patterns emerge in P space at CEPs with maximum asymmetry, interpreted as attosecond interferences of rescattered and directly emitted electron wave packets by means of a simple model.
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