Entanglement and electronic coherences in attosecond molecular photoionization.

Electronic coherences resulting from molecular photoionization underlie the process of attosecond charge migration, widely investigated as a possible path towards controlled charge-directed reactivity. However, photoionization often creates entangled ions and photoelectrons, implying that the wave function cannot be written as a single product of ionic and photoelectron wave functions. Entanglement compromises the ability to explore coherent ultrafast electron dynamics within ions or of their accompanying photoelectrons [1].

I will define the concept of entanglement and electronic coherence, and I will discuss the generation of such properties during the photoionization of the hydrogen molecule employing three different pump-probe techniques. I will show that the emergence of electronic coherence in the dissociating hydrogen molecular cation is influenced by quantum entanglement between it and the departing photoelectron, demonstrating the importance of a proper consideration of entanglement for the optimal observation of electronic coherences in attosecond experiments.

[1] Lisa-M. Koll, Adrián J. Suñer-Rubio, Tobias Witting, Roger Y. Bello, Alicia Palacios, Fernando Martín, and Marc J. J. Vrakking. "Control of quantum entanglement and electronic coherence in attosecond molecular photoionization" - Submitted.