https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/s10053-021-00269-3
Topical Review - Ultraintense and Ultrashort Laser Fields
Quantum interference and imaging using intense laser fields
1
ICFO – Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
2
Max Born Institute, 12489, Berlin, Germany
3
Department of Physics and Center for Attosecond Science and Technology, POSTECH, 7 Pohang, 37673, Pohang, South Korea
4
Max Planck POSTECH/KOREA Research Initiative, 37673, Pohang, South Korea
5
Institut für Kernphysik, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 1, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
6
Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo, Zmaja od Bosne 35, 71000, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
7
Institute of Optics and Quantum Electronics, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany
Received:
12
March
2021
Accepted:
7
September
2021
Published online:
20
October
2021
The interference of matter waves is one of the intriguing features of quantum mechanics that has impressed researchers and laymen since it was first suggested almost a century ago. Nowadays, attosecond science tools allow us to utilize it in order to extract valuable information from electron wave packets. Intense laser fields are routinely employed to create electron wave packets and control their motion with attosecond and ångström precision. In this perspective article, which is based on our debate at the Quantum Battles in Attoscience virtual workshop 2020, we discuss some of the peculiarities of intense light-matter interaction. We review some of the most important techniques used in attosecond imaging, namely photoelectron holography and laser-induced electron diffraction. We attempt to ask and answer a few questions that do not get asked very often. For example, if we are interested in position space information, why are measurements carried out in momentum space? How to accurately retrieve photoelectron spectra from the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation? And, what causes the different coherence properties of high-harmonic generation and above-threshold ionization?
© The Author(s) 2021
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