Zeptosecond Angular Streak Camera

Abstract

Time-resolved electronic processes on the attosecond scale have recently become experimentally accessible through the development of laser-based pump-probe interrogation techniques such as the attosecond streak camera, the reconstruction of attosecond beating by interference of two-photon transitions, and the attoclock. In this work, we demonstrate that by combining the concepts of the attosecond streak camera and the attoclock, time resolved processes down to the time scale of tens of zeptoseconds come into reach. Key to advancing to this remarkable level of time precision by this method termed the zeptosecond angular streak camera (ZASC) is its substantial intrinsic time-information redundancy. The ZASC results in a remarkably simple streaking trace, which is largely independent of the precise temporal structure of the streaking pulse, thereby bypassing the need for detailed characterization of the streaking field. Moreover, it is capable of retrieving information on the duration of the pump pulse. It is also capable of reaching attosecond-level precision in a single-shot mode that may be useful for free-electron-laser experiments. This concept promises to open pathways towards the chronoscopy of zeptosecond-level ultrafast processes.