Attosecond pulse generation, measurement and applications on solids

Attosecond XUV pulses (80 as, 1 as = 10^-18 s [1, 2]) together with phase-stabilized few-cycle (few-femtosecond) laser pulses [3] used for their generation have enabled the development of a technique for attosecond sampling of electrons ejected from atoms or molecules [4, 5]. After the generation of attosecond pulses on a daily base and their characterization at high precision has been made possible, the dynamics of the photoionization process on solids has been studied [6]. Not only that attosecond metrology now enables clocking on surface dynamics, but also the individual behaviour of electrons of different type (core electrons vs. conduction band electrons) can be resolved. Here, we measured a time delay of about 100 as on the emission of the aforemention two types of electrons. The information gained in these experiments may have influence on the development of many modern technologies including semiconductor and molecular electronics, optoelectronics, information processing, electrochemical reactions, etc.