High-resolution spatial and temporal microscopy with intense-laser-induced rescattering electrons

Abstract

Following the recent developments in intense laser techniques, ultrafast phenomena of the order of a few femtoseconds to attoseconds have been discussed. We are developing new methods for ultrafast imaging for transient atomic and molecular systems. We apply the recently developed quantitative rescattering theory together with a fitting procedure to extract effective potentials as well as elastic differential cross sections of the target ions with free electrons within the single active electron model. Using experimental photoelectron spectra for rare gas atoms of Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe, we show that the extracted atomic potentials are in good agreement with those obtained theoretically. The current method of retrieval does not require precise knowledge of the peak laser intensities. The results show that accurate charge distribution of target ions indeed can be retrieved from experimental photoelectron spectra generated by lasers, thus paving the way for using infrared laser pulses for dynamic chemical imaging of transient states of molecules with temporal resolution of few femtoseconds. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.