Recent attoclock measurements of strong field ionization

The attoclock is a powerful, new, and unconventional experimental tool to study fundamental attosecond dynamics on an atomic scale. We have demonstrated the first attoclock with the goal to measure the tunneling delay time in laser-induced ionization of helium and argon atoms, with surprising results. It was found that the time delay in tunneling is zero for helium and argon atoms within the experimental uncertainties of a few 10's of attoseconds. Furthermore we showed that the single active electron approximation is not sufficient even for atoms such as argon and the parent-ion interaction is much more complex than normally assumed. For double ionization of argon we found again surprising results because the ionization time of the first electron is in good agreement with the predictions, whereas the ionization of the second electron occurs significantly earlier than predicted and the two electrons exhibit some unexpected correlation.

Highlights► The attoclock measures time by electron streaking with elliptically polarized light. ► Precision measurements reveal details about the laser-induced tunneling current flow. ► Multielectron effects play an important role when the polarizability is large. ► Double ionization experiments show evidence of novel electron correlation mechanisms.