High harmonic interferometer:For probing sub-laser-cycle electron dynamics in solids

High harmonic emissions from crystalline solids contain rich information on the dynamics of electrons driven by intense infrared laser fields and have been intensively studied owing to their potential use as a probe of microscopic electronic structures. Especially, the ability to measure the temporal response of high harmonics may allow us to investigate electron dynamics directly in quantum materials. However, this most essential aspect of high harmonic emissions has been challenging to measure. Here, we propose a simple solution for this problem: a high harmonic interferometer, where high harmonics are generated in each of the path of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and an interferogram of them is captured. The high harmonic interferometer allows us to achieve a relative time resolution between the target and reference high harmonics of less than 150 attoseconds, which is fine enough to track sub-cycle dynamics of electrons in solids. By using high harmonic interferometrer, we succeeded in capturing the real time dynamics of Floquet states in WSe2, whose indirect signature had so far been caught only by time-averaged measurement. Our simple technique will open a door to attosecond electron dynamics in solids.

K. Uchida, K. Tanaka · 2023