Pulse analysis by delayed absorption from a coherently excited atom

In this tutorial we provide a short review of attosecond pulse characterization techniques and a pedagogical account of a recently proposed method called Pulse Analysis by Delayed Absorption (PANDA) [Pabst and Dahlstr"om, Phys. Rev. A, 94, 13411 (2016)]. We discuss possible implementations of PANDA in alkali atoms using either principal quantum number wave packets or spin-orbit wave packets. The main merit of the PANDA method is that it can be used as a pulse characterization method that is free from atomic latency effects, such as scattering phase shifts and long-lived atomic resonances. Finally, we propose that combining the PANDA method with angle-resolved photoelectron detection should allow for experimental measurements of attosecond delays in photoionization from bound wave packets on the order of tens of attoseconds.