Spatio-spectral analysis of ionization times in high-harmonic generation

Recollision experiments have been very successful in resolving attosecond scale dynamics. However, such schemes rely on the single atom response, neglecting the macroscopic properties of the interaction and the effects of using multi-cycle laser fields. In this paper we perform a complete spatio-spectral analysis of the high harmonic generation process and resolve the distribution of the subcycle dynamics of the recolliding electron. Specifically, we focus on the measurement of ionization times. Recently, we have demonstrated that the addition of a weak, crossed polarized second harmonic field allows us to resolve the moment of ionization (Shafir, 2012) [1]. In this paper we extend this measurement and perform a complete spatio-spectral analysis. We apply this analysis to reconstruct the ionization times of both short and long trajectories showing good agreement with the quantum path analysis. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.