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Updated: May 25, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Circular dichroism in laser-assisted short-pulse photoionization
A K Kazansky1, A V Grigorieva, N M Kabachnik
1Departamento de Fisica de Materiales, UPV/EHU, E-20018 San Sebastian/Donostia, Spain.
Abstract:
A remarkable effect of circular dichroism, i.e., a difference in photoelectron spectra produced by right and left circularly polarized light in two-color multiphoton ionization of atoms, is predicted for the case when the atom is ionized by an extreme ultraviolet or x-ray femtosecond pulse in the field of a strong infrared laser pulse, both pulses being circularly polarized. We show that the sidebands formed in the spectra exhibit different circular dichroism often of different signs both in angle-resolved and angle-integrated experimental conditions. The effect can be used for detecting and measuring circular polarization of x rays in a spectral range where other methods are not effective.
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