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Dynamical Phase Evolution of Coulomb-Focused Electrons in Strong-Field Ionization Probed by a Standing Light Wave

Yuan Gu1,*, Hao Liang2,3,*, Weiran Zheng1, Aofan Lin1, Jiaye Zhang1, Zichen Li1, Juan Du1, Lei Ying1, Peilun He4 et al.

Jan-Michael Rost2, Sina Jacob5, Maksim Kunitski5, Till Jahnke3, Sebastian Eckart5, Kang Lin1,†, and Reinhard Dörner5

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: klin@zju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 103201 – Published 11 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/63v1-3b63

Abstract

We investigate the dynamical phase evolution of Coulomb-focused electrons in strong-field ionization. We diffract the electrons with an ultrashort standing light wave to track their time-dependent phase. Our findings show that low-energy electrons exhibit a unique chromosome-shaped diffraction pattern, distinct from higher-energy electrons. Our numerical model quantitatively reproduces the experimental results, confirming this pattern maps the electron’s time-dependent phase evolution as it escapes from a Coulomb potential. Our pulsed diffraction grating technique offers a new way to sense an electron’s quantum phase at very large distances without interfering its release mechanism.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 103201– Published 11 March, 2026
  • Received 16 September 2025
  • Revised 31 December 2025
  • Accepted 12 February 2026
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