Attosecond counter-rotating-wave effect in xenon driven by strong fields

Abstract

We investigate the subfemtosecond dynamics of a highly excited xenon atom coherently driven by a strong control field at which the Rabi frequency of the system is comparable to the frequency of a driving laser. The widely used rotating-wave approximation breaks down at such fields, resulting in features such as the counter-rotating-wave (CRW) effect. We present a time-resolved observation of the CRW effect in the highly excited 4d-1np xenon using attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Time-dependent many-body theory confirms the observation and explains the various features of the absorption spectrum seen in experiment. ?2017 American Physical Society.