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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Phase evolution of strong-field ionization

Lynda Hutcheson1,*, Maximilian Hartmann2, Gergana D. Borisova2, Paul Birk2, Shuyuan Hu2, Christian Ott2, Thomas Pfeifer2, Hugo W. van der Hart1, and Andrew C. Brown1,†

  • *Contact author: lhutcheson02@qub.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: andrew.brown@qub.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L022074 – Published 24 June, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.L022074

Abstract

We investigate the time-dependent evolution of the dipole phase shift induced by strong-field ionization (SFI) using attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) for time delays where the pump-probe pulses overlap. We study measured and calculated time-dependent attosecond transient absorption spectra of the ionic 4d→5p in xenon, and present the time-dependent line shape parameters in the complex plane. We attribute the complex dynamics to the contribution of three distinct processes: accumulation of ionization, transient population, and retrapping of excited states arising from polarization of the ground state.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L022074– Published 24 June, 2025
  • Received 17 January 2025
  • Accepted 5 May 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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