Precise control of intracycle interference with a phase-stabilized polarization-gated laser pulse

Abstract

We investigate photoelectron momentum distribution (PMD) from strong-field ionization of Ar by a polarization-gated (PG) pulse constructed by a left circularly polarized and a time-delayed right circularly polarized carrier-envelope phase stabilized few-cycle laser pulse. We experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of using a PG pulse to precisely control the interferences between electron wave packets (EWPs) released at different times within one optical cycle. In contrast to previous works where the various types of intracycle interferences are usually hardly resolved and separated, our work shows that, with this specific PG control scheme, it becomes possible to create a highly distinct interference pattern composed of well-separated structures produced by different types of intracycle interferences in the measured PMD. Quantum trajectory Monte Carlo simulations reproduce well the experimental findings and uncover the physical mechanism behind this subcycle control of EWPs with a PG pulse.