Phasenabhängige Starkfeld-Laserphysik

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerhard G. Paulus
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2009 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 109096091

Generation of attosecond electron and X-ray pulses as well as the measurement of attosecond dynamics are key techniques for probing the fastest processes in atomic and molecular physics, chemistry, and biology. These techniques are virtually exclusively built on strong-field laser physics. However, a critical review of the present status of the latter reveals that typical experimental conditions are outside the area of validity of the standard model of strong-field laser physics. Consequently, not sufficiently understood effects of the atomic potential, molecular symmetry and degrees of freedom hamper some of the most beautiful experimental approaches of attosecond laser physics.The goal of this project is a broad experimental attack on this problem. The infrastructural basis has already been established through an instrumentation grant. A number of new approaches will be utilized. These include using target species easily accessible to exact numerical calculations like atomic hydrogen and H+2. In addition, laser pulses in the mid-infrared spectral range will be used due to predicted advantages for attosecond applications and due to experimental conditions closer to the strong-field approximations. Next, the use of few-cycle pulses in the visible and the mid-infrared allows investigating ionization and dissociation by tailored single optical cycles thus giving access to the building blocks of strong-field laser-matter interaction including the roots of interference effects. Finally, modern experimental techniques using a cold ion beam allow kinematically complete measurements of dissociation and ionization of important molecular ions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants