Diffraction patterns in attosecond photoionization time delay

Abstract

Upon absorbing a photon, the ionized electron sails through the target force field in attoseconds to reach free space. This navigation probes details of the potential landscape that get imprinted into the phase of the ionization amplitude. The Eisenbud-Wigner-Smith (EWS) time delay, the energy derivative of this phase, provides the navigation time relative to the time of the electron's ``free'' exit. This time is influenced by the diffraction of the electron from the potential landscape, offering structural and dynamical information about interactions. If the potential has an intrinsic symmetry, a regular pattern in the time delay, including subpatterns of delays and advances, may occur from the diffraction process. The recent synthesis of a polyhedral fluorocarbon instigates the current study of photoionization from a cubic molecule. Our simulation of the EWS delay unravels rich diffraction motifs within $\pm$100 attoseconds in both energy and angular distributions. Averaging over the Euler angles from the laboratory to the molecular frame and over the photoelectron azimuthal direction indicates that the pattern should be discernible in ultrafast chronoscopy. The study benchmarks diffraction in molecular photoionization as a fundamental process which can be experimentally accessed through ultrafast time delay.