Attosecond investigation of extreme-ultraviolet multi-photon multi-electron ionization

Abstract

Multi-electron dynamics in atoms and molecules very often occur on sub- to few-femtosecond time scales. The available intensities of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulses have previously allowed the time-resolved investigation of two-photon, two-electron interactions. Here we study double and triple ionization of argon atoms involving the absorption of up to five XUV photons using a pair of intense attosecond pulse trains (APTs). By varying the time delay between the two APTs with attosecond precision and the spatial overlap with nanometer precision, we obtain information on complex nonlinear multi-photon ionization pathways. Our experimental and numerical results show that Ar2+ is predominantly formed by a sequential two-photon process, whereas the delay dependence of the Ar3+ ion yield exhibits clear signatures of the involvement of a simultaneous two-photon absorption process. Our experiment suggests that it is possible to investigate multi-electron dynamics using attosecond pulses for both pumping and probing the dynamics.