Phase measurement of a Fano window resonance using tunable attosecond pulses

Abstract

We study the photoionization of argon atoms close to the 3s$^2$3p$^6$ $\rightarrow$ 3s$^1$3p$^6$4p $\leftrightarrow$ 3s$^2$3p$^5$ $\varepsilon \ell$, $\ell$=s,d Fano window resonance. An interferometric technique using an attosecond pulse train, i.e. a frequency comb in the extreme ultraviolet range, and a weak infrared probe field allows us to study both amplitude and phase of the photoionization probability amplitude as a function of photon energy. A theoretical calculation of the ionization process accounting for several continuum channels and bandwidth effects reproduces well the experimental observations and shows that the phase variation of the resonant two-photon amplitude depends on the interaction between the channels involved in the autoionization process.