Fall 2022 Physics Colloquium: Attosecond electron motion control and imaging

Prof. Mohammed Hassan, Assistant Professor of Physics and Optical Sciences

When

3 p.m., Oct. 7, 2022

Where

Abstract: The electron motion in atoms and molecules is at the heart of all phenomena in nature. The advances in the ultrafast light field synthesis and attosecond spectroscopy enabled tracing and control electron motion dynamics in matter (1).

In the first part of this talk, I will present our capability to on-demand tailoring of light field waveforms spanning two optical octaves, from near-infrared (NIR) to deep-ultraviolet (DUV) with attosecond resolution (2). Moreover, I will show a demonstration of controlling the quantum electron motion in dielectric using synthesized light waveforms (3). This fine control allowed for switching the optical signal (ON/OFF) with attosecond time resolution (4). Furthermore, I will introduce you to the possible of encoding binary data on ultrashort laser pulses waveforms. This work paves the way for establishing optical switches and light-based electronics with petahertz speeds, several orders of magnitude faster than the current semiconductor-based electronics, opening a new realm in information technology, optical communications, and photonic processor technologies.

In addition, I will present the new methodology to all-optical light field sampling and electron meteorology which allowed to measure the electronic delay response in dielectric system (5).

In the second part of the talk, I will present our latest results of imaging the quantum electron motion in solid-state in action. I will explain how we were able to attain the native electron motion (attosecond) temporal resolution in the electron microscope—orders of magnitude faster than the highest reported imaging resolution—by generating single-isolated attosecond electron pulse inside the microscope and the embellishment of what we so-called “Attomicroscopy” (6-8). This attosecond electron imaging by Attomicroscopy provides more insights into the electron dynamics in real-time and space with attosecond and picometer resolutions and promises to find long-anticipated real-life attosecond science applications in quantum physics, chemistry, and biology.

 

 Refreshments at 2:45PM PAS 218

Fall 2022 Physics Colloquium in-person only