Sub-cycle separation of ionization bursts in the double ionization of H₂

Measuring kinetic energy release (KER) of dissociating molecules can be used as a clock to time the ultrafast processes in laser-matter interactions. At the few-cycle limit we use this technique, also known as molecular clock, as a slow time scale. In combination with a faster time scale - electron emission angle - we can narrow down the intervals when the first and second ionization steps of a hydrogen molecule happen. We show that by additionally exploiting the dependence of the electron and ion momenta on CEP we can separate, with some restrictions, the first from the second emission step in the measured momentum distributions. This opens up studying the influence of the two-center molecular ion's Coulomb potential on the trajectories of the two emitted electrons separately, as we will show during our presentation.
2019 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), June 23-27, 2019, Munich, Germany