Work

Unifying attoclock and Larmor measurements through position-resolved weak values

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The measurement of tunneling times in strong-field ionization has been the topic of much controversy in recent years, with the attoclock and Larmor clock being two of the main contenders for correctly reproducing these times. While the non-zero Larmor tunneling time has been unambiguously detected, the tunneling time measured by the attoclock appears to vanish in tunnel ionization of a hydrogen atom. By expressing the attoclock as the weak value of temporal delay, we extend its meaning beyond the traditional setup and connect it to the weak-value interpretation of the Larmor clock. Our approach allows us to derive the position-resolved attoclock tunneling time. We show how this time, while non-zero at the tunnel exit, vanishes at the detector, far away from the atom. Formally, this means that the attoclock does not measure the “local” Larmor time, but instead a “non-local” time closely related to the phase time.

Source: Communications Physics

DOI: 10.1038/s42005-026-02615-6

Authors: Pablo M. Maier, Serguei Patchkovskii, Misha Yu. Ivanov, Olga Smirnova

Institutions: Max-Born-Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin

Language: English

Topic: Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,990

Funder: European Commission