Laser-induced Electron-Transfer in the Dissociative Multiple Ionization of Argon Dimers
- Resource Type
- Working Paper
- Authors
- Wang, YanLan; Lai, XuanYang; Yu, ShaoGang; Sun, RenPing; Liu, XiaoJun; Dorner-Kirchner, Martin; Erattupuzha, Sonia; Larimian, Seyedreza; Koch, Markus; Hanus, Václav; Kangaparambil, Sarayoo; Paulus, Gerhard; Baltuška, Andrius; Xie, Xinhua; Kitzler-Zeiler, Markus
- Source
- Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 063202 (2020)
- Subject
- Physics - Atomic and Molecular Clusters
- Language
We report on an experimental and theoretical study of the ionization-fragmentation dynamics of argon dimers in intense few-cycle laser pulses with a tagged carrier-envelope phase. We find that a field-driven electron transfer process from one argon atom across the system boundary to the other argon atom triggers sub-cycle electron-electron interaction dynamics in the neighboring atom. This attosecond electron-transfer process between distant entities and its implications manifest themselves as a distinct phase-shift between the measured asymmetry of electron emission curves of the $\text{Ar}^{+}+\text{Ar}^{2+}$ and $\text{Ar}^{2+}+\text{Ar}^{2+}$ fragmentation channels. Our work discloses a strong-field route to controlling the dynamics in molecular compounds through the excitation of electronic dynamics on a distant molecule by driving inter-molecular electron-transfer processes.