Revealing the time-dependent polarization of ultrashort pulses with sub-cycle resolution.
We report on the first experiments characterizing the complete time-dependent 2D vector potential of a few-cycle laser pulse. The instantaneous amplitude and orientation of the electric field is determined with sub-cycle resolution, directly giving access to the polarization state of the pulse at any instant in time. This is achieved by performing an attosecond streaking experiment using a reaction microscope, where the full pulse characterization is performed directly in the target region.
R
R
Boge
S
S
Heuser
M
M
Sabbar
M
M
Lucchini
L
L
Gallmann
C
C
Cirelli
U
U
Keller