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Multiphoton ionization with three-dimensional light fields

D. Köhnke*, H.-C. Ahlswede*, T. Bayer, and M. Wollenhaupt†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: matthias.wollenhaupt@uol.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033048 – Published 13 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r36b-vw82

Abstract

We employ, for the first time, bichromatic three-dimensional (3D) polarization-shaped ultrashort laser fields in atomic multiphoton ionization to create previously inaccessible free-electron angular momentum wave packets. The 3D fields are created by the noncollinear superposition of two polarization-shaped pulses of different colors from a supercontinuum polarization pulse shaper and provide electric-field components along all spatial directions. The resulting photoelectron momentum distributions, recorded via velocity map imaging, demonstrate full 3D quantum control of electronic superposition states extending beyond the constraints of planar polarization fields by unlocking all dipole selection rules Δm=0,±1. As an application, 3D pump-probe fields are used to map spin-orbit dynamics of the potassium 3d fine structure doublet. Our shaper-based approach establishes a route to fully controllable 3D light fields for chiral-sensitive light-matter interactions and ultrafast spectroscopy.

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033048– Published 13 July, 2026
  • Received 25 November 2025
  • Revised 12 January 2026
  • Accepted 16 June 2026
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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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