Application of the complex Kohn variational method to attosecond spectroscopy

Molecular-Frame Photoelectron Angular Distributions of CO in the Vicinity of Feshbach Resonances: An XCHEM Approach

The advent of ultrashort XUV pulses is pushing for the development of accurate theoretical calculations to describe ionization of molecules in regions where electron correlation plays a significant role. Here, we present an extension of the XCHEM methodology to evaluate laboratory- and molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions in the region where Feshbach resonances are expected to appear. The performance of the method is demonstrated in the CO molecule, for which information on Feshbach resonances is very scarce. We show that photoelectron angular distributions are dramatically affected by the presence of resonances, to the point that they can completely reverse the preferred electron emission direction observed in direct nonresonant photoionization. This is the consequence of significant changes in the electronic structure of the molecule when resonances decay, an effect that is mostly driven by electron correlation in the ionization continuum. The present methodology can thus be helpful for the interpretation of angularly resolved photoionization time delays in this and more complex molecules.

Circular Holographic Ionization-Phase Meter

We propose an attosecond extreme ultraviolet pump IR-probe photoionization protocol that employs pairs of counterrotating consecutive harmonics and angularly resolved photoelectron detection, thereby providing a direct measurement of ionization phases. The present method, which we call circular holographic ionization-phase meter, gives also access to the phase of photoemission amplitudes of even-parity continuum states from a single time-delay measurement since the relative phase of one- and two-photon ionization pathways is imprinted in the photoemission anisotropy. The method is illustrated with ab initio simulations of photoionization via autoionizing resonances in helium. The rapid phase excursion in the transition amplitude to both the dipole-allowed (2s2p)^{1}P^{o} and the dipole-forbidden (2p^{2})^{1}D^{e} states are faithfully reproduced.