Dissecting strong-field excitation dynamics with atomic-momentum spectroscopy

Observation of internal quantum dynamics relies on correlations between the system being observed and the measurement apparatus. We propose using the c.m. degrees of freedom of atoms and molecules as a "built-in" monitoring device for observing their internal dynamics in nonperturbative laser fields. We illustrate the idea on the simplest model system-the hydrogen atom in an intense, tightly focused infrared laser beam. To this end, we develop a numerically tractable, quantum-mechanical treatment of correlations between internal and c.m. dynamics. We show that the transverse momentum records the time excited states experience the field, allowing femtosecond reconstruction of the strong-field excitation process. The ground state becomes weak-field seeking, an unambiguous and long sought-for signature of the Kramers-Henneberger regime.