The concept of using photoelectron interferometry in short laser fields to probe electron dynamics and target structures was introduced more than two decades ago. However, the quality of experimental data has remained insufficient for quantitative analysis, largely due to the instability of few-cycle Ti:sapphire laser pulses—the current workhorse of short pulses. Here, we report the first systematic strong-field ionization experiments performed with industrial-grade, carrier-envelope-phase stabilized, near-single-cycle Yb lasers. By measuring photoelectron momentum distributions in the direct-ionization regime, we show that single-cycle cosine-shaped pulses can separate and enhance both spider-leg and fishbone holographic structures. The spider-leg structure enables extraction of the electron scattering phase from the Ar atomic potential—information typically accessible through attosecond metrology—while the fishbone structure reveals the orbital-parity contrast between Ar atoms and nitrogen molecules. Our measurements are quantitatively reproduced by both semiclassical Herman-Kluk-propagator and ab initio simulations, paving the way for precision studies of electron-molecule scattering with widely accessible industrial-grade lasers.

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• Atomic & molecular processes in external fields
• Scattering of atoms, molecules, clusters & ions