Abstract
Attosecond extreme-ultraviolet pulses1 have a complex space–time structure2. However, at present, there is no method to observe this intricate detail; all measurements of the duration of attosecond pulses are, to some extent, spatially averaged1,3,4,5. A technique for determining the full space–time structure would enable a detailed study of the highly nonlinear processes that generate these pulses as a function of intensity without averaging6,7. Here, we introduce and demonstrate an all-optical method to measure the space–time characteristics of an isolated attosecond pulse. Our measurements show that intensity-dependent phase and quantum-path interference both play a key role in determining the pulse structure. In the generating medium, the attosecond pulse is strongly modulated in space and time. Propagation modifies but does not erase this modulation. Quantum-path interference of the single-atom response, previously obscured by spatial and temporal averaging, may enable measuring the laser-field-driven ion dynamics with sub-cycle resolution.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of D. Crane and B. Avery. We also acknowledge financial support from NSERC, AFOSR and MURI Grant No. W911NF-07-1-0475. In addition, E.F. acknowledges support from the Marie Curie International Outgoing fellowship.
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K.T.K. and P.B.C. conceived the idea and designed the experiment. K.T.K., C.Z., A.D.S., S.E.K. and G.G. performed the experiment and collected the data. K.T.K. provided the theoretical analysis and analysed the experimental data. K.T.K., D.M.V. and P.B.C. prepared the initial manuscript. All authors contributed in writing the manuscript.
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Kim, K., Zhang, C., Shiner, A. et al. Manipulation of quantum paths for space–time characterization of attosecond pulses. Nature Phys 9, 159–163 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2525
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2525
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