Carrier envelope phase sensitivity of photoelectron circular dichroism

We report on a combined experimental and numerical study of photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) induced by intense few-cycle laser pulses, using methyloxirane as the molecular example. Our experiments reveal a remarkably pronounced sensitivity of the PECD strength of double-ionization on the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the laser pulses. By comparison to the simulations, which reproduce the measured CEP-dependence for specific orientations of the molecules in the lab frame, we attribute the origin of the observed CEP-dependence of PECD to the CEP-induced modulation of ionization from different areas of the wave functions of three dominant orbitals.

Automated summary

We present a study on photoelectron circular dichroism (PECD) induced by intense few-cycle laser pulses, using methyloxirane as a model molecule. Our experiments demonstrate a strong dependence of double-ionization PECD on the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of the laser pulses. Comparing with simulations, we attribute the observed CEP-dependence of PECD to the CEP-induced modulation of ionization from different areas of the wave functions of three dominant orbitals.