Real-time observation of valence electron motion

被引:1083
作者
Goulielmakis, Eleftherios [1 ]
Loh, Zhi-Heng [2 ,3 ,4 ]
Wirth, Adrian [1 ]
Santra, Robin [5 ,6 ]
Rohringer, Nina [7 ]
Yakovlev, Vladislav S. [1 ,8 ]
Zherebtsov, Sergey [1 ]
Pfeifer, Thomas [2 ,3 ,4 ]
Azzeer, Abdallah M. [9 ]
Kling, Matthias F. [1 ]
Leone, Stephen R. [2 ,3 ,4 ]
Krausz, Ferenc [1 ,8 ]
机构
[1] Max Planck Inst Quantum Opt, D-85748 Garching, Germany
[2] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Chem, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[3] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Phys, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[4] Univ Calif Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Div Chem Sci, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[5] Argonne Natl Lab, Argonne, IL 60439 USA
[6] Univ Chicago, Dept Phys, Chicago, IL 60637 USA
[7] Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Livermore, CA 94551 USA
[8] Univ Munich, Dept Phys, D-85748 Garching, Germany
[9] King Saud Univ, Dept Phys & Astron, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
ATTOSECOND; DYNAMICS; IONIZATION;
D O I
10.1038/nature09212
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The superposition of quantum states drives motion on the atomic and subatomic scales, with the energy spacing of the states dictating the speed of the motion. In the case of electrons residing in the outer (valence) shells of atoms and molecules which are separated by electronvolt energies, this means that valence electron motion occurs on a subfemtosecond to few-femtosecond timescale (1 fs = 10(-15) s). In the absence of complete measurements, the motion can be characterized in terms of a complex quantity, the density matrix. Here we report an attosecond pump-probe measurement of the density matrix of valence electrons in atomic krypton ions(1). We generate the ions with a controlled few-cycle laser field(2) and then probe them through the spectrally resolved absorption of an attosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulse(3), which allows us to observe in real time the subfemtosecond motion of valence electrons over a multifemtosecond time span. We are able to completely characterize the quantum mechanical electron motion and determine its degree of coherence in the specimen of the ensemble. Although the present study uses a simple, prototypical open system, attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy should be applicable to molecules and solid-state materials to reveal the elementary electron motions that control physical, chemical and biological properties and processes.
引用
收藏
页码:739 / U7
页数:6
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