Münchner Physik Kolloquium: Attosecond spectroscopy on solids

by Reinhard Kienberger (Physics Department, TUM München)

Monday 27 Jun 2011, 17:15 → 18:45 Europe/Berlin

Hörsaal 2 (Physik Department der TUM, Garching)

The generation of ever shorter light pulses is key to exploring the dynamic behavior of matter on ever shorter time scales. Recently, precise control of sub-femtosecond wave-packets has been achieved by full control of the electromagnetic field in few-cycle light pulses. We will here show how the dynamics of the photoionization process on solids can been studied on the attosecond (10^-18 s) time scale. This is accomplished by probing electron emission with the oscillating electric field of a few-cycle laser pulse following excitation with a synchronized sub-femtosecond XUV (extreme ultra-violet) pulse. The information gained in these experiments may have influence on the development of many modern technologies including semiconductor and molecular electronics, optoelectronics, information processing, photovoltaics, electrochemical reactions, electronically stimulated chemistry on surfaces and interfaces, non-adiabatic reactions, optical nano-structuring, and interference effects in spectroscopy. Recent experiments towards an absolute measurement of the travel time of electron inside solids are discussed.