Attosecond Control of Restoration of Electronic Structure Symmetry

ChunMei Liu, Jörn Manz, Kenji Ohmori, Christian Sommer, Nobuyuki Takei, Jean Christophe Tremblay, and Yichi Zhang
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 173201 – Published 25 October 2018
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Abstract

Laser pulses can break the electronic structure symmetry of atoms and molecules by preparing a superposition of states with different irreducible representations. Here, we discover the reverse process, symmetry restoration, by means of two circularly polarized laser pulses. The laser pulse for symmetry restoration is designed as a copy of the pulse for symmetry breaking. Symmetry restoration is achieved if the time delay is chosen such that the superposed states have the same phases at the temporal center. This condition must be satisfied with a precision of a few attoseconds. Numerical simulations are presented for the C6H6 molecule and Rb87 atom. The experimental feasibility of symmetry restoration is demonstrated by means of high-contrast time-dependent Ramsey interferometry of the Rb87 atom.

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  • Received 23 March 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.173201

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

ChunMei Liu1, Jörn Manz1,2,3,*, Kenji Ohmori4,5,†, Christian Sommer4,5,6, Nobuyuki Takei4,5, Jean Christophe Tremblay1, and Yichi Zhang2,3,4

  • 1Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Chemie und Biochemie, 14195 Berlin, Germany
  • 2State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
  • 3Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
  • 4Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
  • 5SOKENDAI (The Graduate University of Advanced Studies), Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
  • 6Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts, 91058 Erlangen, Germany

  • *Corresponding author. jmanz@chemie.fu-berlin.de
  • Corresponding author. ohmori@ims.ac.jp

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Issue

Vol. 121, Iss. 17 — 26 October 2018

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