Physical Review Research (May 2023)

Angular dependence of the Wigner time delay upon strong-field ionization from an aligned p orbital

  • D. Trabert,
  • N. Anders,
  • A. Geyer,
  • M. Hofmann,
  • M. S. Schöffler,
  • L. Ph. H. Schmidt,
  • T. Jahnke,
  • M. Kunitski,
  • R. Dörner,
  • S. Eckart

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.023118
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 2
p. 023118

Abstract

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We present experimental data on the strong-field ionization of the argon dimer in a co-rotating two-color laser field. We observe a subcycle interference pattern in the photoelectron momentum distribution and infer the Wigner time delay using holographic angular streaking of electrons. We find that the Wigner time delay varies by more than 400 attoseconds as a function of the electron emission direction with respect to the molecular axis. The measured time delay is found to be independent of the parity of the dimercation and is in good agreement with our theoretical model based on the ionization of an aligned atomic p orbital.