title: Measurement of ultrafast ionization dynamics of gases by multipulse interferometric frequency-resolved optical gating.
abstract: Ultrafast ionization dynamics of femtosecond laser-irradiated noble and simple diatomic gases were studied using a novel two-color time-domain technique which eliminated significant complications seen in past experiments. Ultrafast depletion of the probing laser pulse was observed strictly coincident with the ionization front and attributed to a previously unobserved nonlinear frequency mixing via the transverse plasma current [F. Brunel, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 7, 52 (1990)]. Good quantitative agreement of the measured single-atom ionization rates with Ammosov-Delone-Krainov rates was found, except for O (2) which showed a 200x smaller rate.
authors.affiliation: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics Group, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. csiders@creol.ucf.edu
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Siders
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Siders
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Omenetto
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Taylor