2007/07/20 by Toru Morishita, Anh-Thu Le, Zhangjin Chen +1
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.013903
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 013903 (2008) · 4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2007/07/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
By analyzing ``exact'' theoretical results from solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation of atoms in few-cycle laser pulses, we established the general conclusion that differential elastic scattering and photo-recombination cross sections of the target ion with \em free electrons can be extracted accurately from laser-generated high-energy electron momentum spectra and high-order harmonic spectra, respectively. Since both electron scattering and photoionization (the inverse of photo-recombination) are the conventional means for interrogating the structure of atoms and molecules, this result shows that existing few-cycle infrared lasers can be implemented for ultrafast imaging of transient molecules with temporal resolution of a few femtoseconds.