Reconstruction of Polarization Properties of the Ultra-Short Pulse (IMAGE)
Caption
Left alone, the circular sprinkler distributes the water evenly, and the grass grows in a circular pattern regardless of whether the sprinkler rotates clock-wise, counter-clockwise, or randomly. If wind blows, the grass is watered unevenly, as seen in its growth. If the wind blows in a regular pattern, changing its strength with clock-work precision, the asymmetry in the grass growth allows us to reconstruct the properties of the sprinkler, distinguishing the precision-made, regularly rotating sprinkler from a randomly oscillating cheap version. In our micro-world setup, the sprinkler is the short pulse (in blue), lasting only about 10 -16 sec, with its electric field rotating even faster in an unknown pattern. The wind is a linearly polarized and precisely controlled infrared laser field (in red). The grass is the measured photoelectron angular distribution (in green). The asymmetry in the latter allows us to reconstruct, for the first time, the polarization properties of the ultra-short pulse that lasts about 10 -16 sec.
Credit
Felipe Morales und Álvaro Jiménez-Galán
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