Studying Electron Dynamics using Attosecond Streaking

Abstract: In this thesis, a program was implemented to study the electron dynamics of photoionization. These dynamics are probed by a streaking infrared field, that modulates the electrons' trajectories. Analytical quantum mechanical calculations for such systems are impossible without approximations or atoms more complex than hydrogen. However, using classical mechanics and Monte Carlo methods to capture the statistical behaviour of quantum mechanics, it was possible to extract the temporal dynamics of hydrogen and once ionized helium, and get good agreement with recent articles published by [Nagele et al. 2011] (Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 44), [Klünder et al. 2011] (Physical Review Letters, 106.14) and [Ivanov and Smirnova 2011] (Physical Review Letters, 107.21). The program was implemented on a Graphics Processing Unit, the computational unit of a graphics card, which allows or massive parallelization of computations using inexpensive computer hardware available to normal consumers.