Spin–orbit Larmor clock for ionization times in one-photon and strong-field regimes

Abstract

Photoionization is a process where absorption of one or several photons liberates an electron and creates a hole in a quantum system, such as an atom or a molecule. Is it faster to remove an electron using one or many photons, and how to define this time? Here we introduce a clock that allows us to define ionization time for both one-photon and many-photon ionization regimes. The clock uses the interaction of the electron or hole spin with the magnetic field created by their orbital motion, known as the spin–orbit interaction. The angle of spin precession in the magnetic field records time. We use the combination of analytical theory and ab initio calculations to show how ionization delay depends on the number of absorbed photons, how it appears in the experiment and what electron dynamics it signifies. In particular, we apply our method to calculate the derived time delays in tunneling regime of strong-field ionization.