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ABSTRACT Acomplete quantum-mechanical description of matter and its interaction with the environment requires detailed knowledge of a number of complex parameters. In particular, information

about the phase of wavefunctions is important for predicting the behaviour of atoms, molecules or larger systems. In optics, information about the evolution of the phase of light in time1

and space2 is obtained by interferometry. To obtain similar information for atoms and molecules, it is vital to develop analogous techniques. Here we present an interferometric method for

determining the phase variation of electronic wave packets in momentum space, and demonstrate its applicability to the fundamental process of single-photon ionization. We use a sequence of

extreme-ultraviolet attosecond pulses3,4 to ionize argon atoms and an infrared laser field, which induces a momentum shear5 between consecutive electron wave packets. The interferograms that

result from the interaction of these wave packets provide useful information about their phase. This technique opens a promising new avenue for reconstructing the wavefunctions6,7 of atoms

and molecules and for following the ultrafast dynamics of electronic wave packets. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your

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* Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ATTOSECOND-RESOLVED NON-DIPOLE PHOTOIONIZATION DYNAMICS Article 10

January 2024 ATTOSECOND TRANSIENT INTERFEROMETRY Article Open access 01 November 2024 PHOTON BUNCHING IN HIGH-HARMONIC EMISSION CONTROLLED BY QUANTUM LIGHT Article 13 May 2025 REFERENCES *

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Lett._ 95, 040401 (2005). Article  ADS  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported by Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (MEIF-CT-2004-009268,

MEIF-CT-2003-500947), the Marie Curie Research Training Networks XTRA (MRTN-CT-2003-505138) and PICNIC (HPRN-2002-00183), the Integrated Initiative of Infrastructure LASERLAB-EUROPE

(RII3-CT-2003-506350) within the 6th European Community Framework Programme, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Science Council and the National Science Foundation through

grant PHY-0401625. K.V. is on leave from the Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. The research of Y.N., F.L., M.K., J.K. and M.J.J.V. is part

of the research program of the ‘Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM)’, which is financially supported by the ‘Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

(NWO)’. We thank T. Ruchon and M. Lewenstein for fruitful discussions. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Physics, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, PO Box 118,

Sweden T. Remetter, P. Johnsson, K. Varjú, E. Gustafsson & A. L’Huillier * Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803-4001, USA J.

Mauritsson & K. J. Schafer * FOM-Institute AMOLF, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands Y. Ni, F. Lépine, M. Kling, J. Khan & M. J. J. Vrakking * Laboratoire d’Optique

Appliquée, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées (ENSTA) - Ecole Polytechnique CNRS UMR 7639, 91761 Palaiseau Cedex, France R. López-Martens Authors * T. Remetter View author

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L’Huillier. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION ATTOSECOND ELECTRON WAVE PACKET

(PDF 150 KB) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Remetter, T., Johnsson, P., Mauritsson, J. _et al._ Attosecond electron wave packet

interferometry. _Nature Phys_ 2, 323–326 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys290 Download citation * Received: 24 November 2005 * Accepted: 22 March 2006 * Published: 30 April 2006 * Issue

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