Photoionization is a complex quantum mechanical process, with a range of interfering channels playing a role in even the simplest case. For problems in quantum metrology and sensing, a detailed understanding of the process is desirable for accurate measurements; quantum control is also a possible outcome of such understanding. New research in this area will build on recent cutting-edge work at NRC (see below), which probed the fundamental quantum physics of photoionization in atoms and molecules, and metrology work which demonstrated the retrieval of electron wavefunctions via interferometric time-domain measurements.

Four areas of photoionization interferometry are the target of current research:

1. Metrology and control with rotational wavepackets.
2. Metrology and control with shaped laser pulses.
3. Quantum dynamics probed via photoionization interferometry.
4. Fundamental properties of photoion and photoelectron coherence.

Depending on interests and experience, project work will be in one (or more) of these areas.

An introduction to this topic, and recent work, can be found in Paul’s DAMOP 2017 talk Phase-sensitive Photoelectron Metrology (below), and via our blog.

Phase-sensitive Photoelectron Metrology – Dr. P. Hockett, presentation at DAMOP 2017 from femtolab.ca on Vimeo.