Attosecond Time Delay of Retrapped Resonant Ionization

Abstract

A recent ultrafast pump-probe technique has allowed measurement of time delays during photoemission in a variety of systems ranging from atoms and molecules to solids with unprecedented temporal resolution. However, identifying the underlying physics is still a challenge especially in complicated multichannel above-threshold ionization (ATI) experiments. Here we demonstrate that the time delays of different ionization pathways in ATI can be clearly resolved and extracted with a semiclassical statistical method. The remarkable phase shift of near threshold photoelectrons can be attributed to a temporary retrapping of a photoelectron by the atomic potential in a quasibound state after emerging in the continuum state. This continuum-bound-continuum scattering manifests as a new resonant effect in strong-field photoemission. Our results unify the seemingly opposing quantum Eisenbud-Wigner-Smith time delay and classical Coulomb-induced time delay by highlighting the same physical picture, which holds promise for an intuitive interpretation of time-resolved fundamental electronic processes in strong-field experiments and epistemological reexamination of the quantum-classical correspondence.