Development of attosecond pulses and their application to ultrafast dynamics of atoms and molecules

Abstract

In the past two decades, the development of laser technology has made attosecond science become a cutting-edge research field, providing various novel perspectives for the study of quantum few-body ultrafast evolution. At present, the attosecond pulses prepared in laboratories are widely used in experimental research in the form of isolated pulses or pulse trains. The ultrafast changing light field allows one to control and track the motions of electrons on an atomic scale, and realize the real-time tracking of electron dynamics on a sub-femtosecond time scale. This review focuses on the research progress of ultrafast dynamics of atoms and molecules, which is an important part of attosecond science. Firstly, the generation and development of attosecond pulses are reviewed, mainly including the principle of high-order harmonic and the separation method of single-attosecond pulses. Then the applications of attosecond pulses are systematically introduced, including photo-ionization time delay, attosecond charge migration, and non-adiabatic molecular dynamics. Finally, the summary and outlook of the application of attosecond pulses are presented.