Köhler J, Wollenhaupt M, Bayer T, Sarpe C, Baumert T. Zeptosecond precision pulse shaping.
OPTICS EXPRESS 2011;
19:11638-11653. [PMID:
21716397 DOI:
10.1364/oe.19.011638]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
We investigate the temporal precision in the generation of ultrashort laser pulse pairs by pulse shaping techniques. To this end, we combine a femtosecond polarization pulse shaper with a polarizer and employ two linear spectral phase masks to mimic an ultrastable common-path interferometer. In an all-optical experiment we study the interference signal resulting from two temporally delayed pulses. Our results show a 2σ-precision of 300 zs = 300 × 10(-21) s in pulse-to-pulse delay. The standard deviation of the mean is 11 zs. The obtained precision corresponds to a variation of the arm's length in conventional delay stage based interferometers of 0.45 Å. We apply these precisely generated pulse pairs to a strong-field quantum control experiment. Coherent control of ultrafast electron dynamics via photon locking by temporal phase discontinuities on a few attosecond timescale is demonstrated.
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