Reconstruction of an arbitrarily polarized few-cycle laser pulse by two-dimensional streaking

摘要

The application of the streaking principle for the reconstruction of the temporal evolution of the electric field of a few-cycle laser pulse with arbitrary polarization is discussed. A full characterization of the field can be achieved by measuring the photoelectron energy-angular distribution in the polarization plane for various delays of the attosecond XUV burst with respect to the probed laser pulse. A simplified realization of the procedure, which is unable to determine the sign of the ellipticity, requires a measurement of the photoelectron momentum in two opposite directions along an arbitrary axis. The reconstructed field is robust against the detailed shape of the angular dependence, as well as details of the theoretical model employed in the reconstruction. An error analysis shows that, for moderate intensities of the probed pulse, high accuracy of the reconstruction can be achieved.