Polarization control of above-threshold ionization spectrum in elliptically polarized two-color laser fields

We study the above-threshold ionization(ATI)process of atoms exposed to fundamental and high-frequency lasers with arbitrary ellipticity by applying the frequency-domain theory.It is found that the angular-resolved ATI spectrum is sensitive to ellipticities of two lasers and emitted angles of the photoelectron.Particularly for the photon energy of the highfrequency laser more than atomic ionization potential,the width of plateau tends to a constant with increasing ellipticity of fundamental field,the dip structure disappears with increasing ellipticity of the high-frequency field.With the help of the quantum channel analysis,it is shown that the angular distribution depends mainly on the ellipticity of high-frequency field in the case that its frequency is high.Moreover,one can see that the maximal and minimal energies in quantum numerical results are in good agreement with the classical prediction.Our investigation may provide theoretical support for experimental research on polarization control of ionization in elliptically polarized two-color laser fields.

Above-threshold ionization of hydrogen atom in chirped laser fields

Above-threshold ionization （ATI） of a hydrogen atom exposed to chirped laser fields is investigated theoretically by solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation. By comparing the energy spectra, the two-dimensional momentum spectra, and the angular distributions of photoelectron for the laser pulses with different chirp rates, we show a very clear chirp dependence both in the multiphoton and tunneling ionization processes but no chirp dependence in the single-photon ionization. We find that the chirp dependence in the multiphoton ionization based ATI can be attributed to the excited bound states. In the single-photon and tunneling ionization regimes, the electron can be removed directly from the ground state and thus the excited states may not be very important. It indicates that the chirp dependence in the tunneling ionization based ATI processes is mainly due to the laser pulses with different chirp rates,

The Coulomb effect on a low-energy structure in above-threshold ionization spectra induced by mid-infrared laser pulses

We investigate the low-energy structure （LES） in the above-threshold ionization spectrum at a mid-infrared laser wavelength with a semiclassical model. Using a softened Coulomb potential （CP） and changing the softening parameter, we show that though the very low-energy structure （VLES） and high low-energy structure （HLES） are both due to the interaction between the ionic CP and the electron, the two structures have different physical mechanisms： the VLES can be attributed to the electron-ion Coulomb interaction at a rather small distance and the HLES is more likely to be ascribed to the electron-ion Coulomb interaction at a large distance.

Dependence of above-threshold ionization spectrum on polarization directions of two-color laser fields

Using the frequency-domain theory, we investigate the above-threshold ionization（ATI） process of an atom in twocolor laser fields. When both photon energies of the two-color laser fields are much smaller than the atomic ionization threshold, the ATI spectrum depends on the angle between the two lasers＇ polarization directions. While when the photon energy of one laser is comparable with or larger than the atomic ionization threshold, the ATI spectrum is independent of the angle, and only several dips appear at certain angles. By analyzing the contributions of different quantum channels, we find that, for the case that both frequencies of the two color lasers are low, the quantum interferences between the channels are strong, and hence the spectrum changes with the angle between the two lasers＇ polarization directions. While for the case that the frequency of one of the two color lasers is high, the contributions of the channels to the ATI spectrum decrease dramatically with increasing channel order, hence the interferences between the channels disappear, and the ATI spectrum has a step-like structure, which is independent of the angle between the two lasers＇ polarizations. These results can shed light on the study of the corresponding relation between classical and quantum mechanisms of the matter–laser interaction in high-frequency laser fields.

Influence of multi-photon excitation on the atomic above-threshold ionization

Using the time-dependent pseudo-spectral scheme, we solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation of a hydrogen- like atom in a strong laser field in momentum space. The intensity-resolved photoelectron energy spectrum in abovethreshold ionization is obtained and further analyzed. We find that with the increase of the laser intensity, the abovethreshold ionization emission spectrum exhibits periodic resonance structure. By analyzing the population of atomic bound states, we find that it is the multi-photon excitation of bound state that leads to the occurrence of this phenomenon, which is in fairly good agreement with the experimental results.

Asymmetric structure of atomic above-threshold ionization spectrum in two-color elliptically polarized laser fields

According to the frequency-domain theory, we investigate the asymmetric structure of above-threshold ionization(ATI) spectrum of an atom in two-color elliptically polarized(EP) laser fields. When both laser fields are linearly polarized(LP), the spectrum shows that the multi-plateau structure is symmetric about the emitted angle of electron at π/2, while the spectrum becomes asymmetric and shifts rightwards with the increase of the EP degree of the IR laser field. Since the total ATI process is regarded as including direct ATI and the rescattering ATI, we analyze the spectrum structure of direct ATI and rescattering ATI separately. Using the saddle-point approximation, we find that for direct ATI, the fringes on the spectrum are mainly attributed to the fact that the ionization probability becomes very small when the direction of emitted electrons is perpendicular to the direction of the XUV laser polarization;while for the rescattering ATI, the interference fringes on the spectrum mainly come from the superposition of the waist structures on the spectra of all sub-channels.

Angle-resolved spectra of the direct above-threshold ionization of diatomic molecule in IR + XUV laser fields

The direct above-threshold ionization(ATI) of diatomic molecules in linearly-polarized infrared and extreme ultraviolet(IR+XUV) laser fields is investigated by the frequency–domain theory based on the nonperturbative quantum electrodynamics. The destructive interference fringes on the angle-resolved ATI spectra, which are closely related to the molecular structure, can be well fitted by a simple predictive formula for any alignment of the molecular axis. By comparing the direct ATI spectra for monochromatic and two-color laser fields, we found that the XUV laser field can both raise the ionization probability and the kinetic energy of the ionized electron, while the infrared(IR) laser field can broaden the energy distribution of the ionized electron. Our results demonstrate that, by using IR+XUV two-color laser fields, the angle-resolved spectra of the direct ATI can image the structural information of molecules without considering the recollision process of the ionized electron.

Semiclassical investigation of Coulomb focusing effects in atomic above-threshold ionization with elliptically polarized laser fields

We investigate atomic above-threshold ionization in elliptically polarized strong laser fields with a semiclassical approach.With increasing laser intensity,the Coulomb focusing（CF） effects are found to become stronger in both parallel and perpendicular directions with respect to the polarization plane.The dependence of CF effects on tunnel exit,initial transverse momentum distribution and laser electric field is analyzed.It was revealed that the effects of tunnel exit are most prominent with variation of the laser intensity,and the other two factors both play non-negligible roles.Our results provide a deeper insight to the recent experiments of Coulomb asymmetry[Shafir D,et al.,2013 Phys.Rev.Lett.111 023005 and Li M,et al,2013 Phys.Rev.Lett.111 023006].

Role of XUV Photons in Atomic High-Order Above-Threshold Ionization Processes in IR+XUV Two-Color Laser Fields

We investigate the above-threshold ionization of an atom in a combined infrared （IR） and extreme ultraviolet （XUV） two-color laser field and focus on the role of XUV field in the high-order above-threshold ionization （HATI） process. It is demonstrated that, in stark contrast to previous studies, the XUV laser may play a significant role in atomic HATI process, and in particular, the XUV laser can accelerate the ionized electron in a quantized way during the collision between the electron and its parent ion. This process cannot be explained by the elassical three-step model Our results indicate that the previously well-established concept that HATI is an elastic recollision process is broken down.

Even-odd harmonics generated from above-threshold ionization

We are reporting a theoretical prediction： The photoelectrons forming above-threshold-ionization （ATI） peaks emit both even and odd harmonics. These harmonics exhibit plateau and cut-off features similar to those odd-only harmonics observed in ATI experiments.

Nonperturbative generation of above-threshold harmonics from pre-excited argon atoms in intense mid-infrared laser fields

We experimentally investigate the generation of above-threshold harmonics completely from argon atoms on an excited state using mid-infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The highly nonlinear dependences of the observed signal on the pulse energy and polarization of the probe laser pulses indicate its nonperturbative characteristic.

Quantum-orbit theory of low-energy above-threshold ionization on and off axis

Intense-laser-induced above-threshold ionization of a bound electron into continuum states with low energy is investigated in the context of the strong-field approximation that allows for one act of rescattering of the re- visiting electron. The quantum orbits for forward and backward scattering are evaluated and generalized to arbitrary scattering angles. The velocity map of the liberated electron exhibits the well-known low-energy structure as well as other features off the polarization axis.

Laser Phase Determination and Transfer Function to Directly Measure the Temporal Structure of a Narrow Bandwidth Attosecond EUV Pulse

A laser phase determination method and a transfer function that includes a proportional term of a measured photoelectron energy spectrum are presented to directly measure the detailed temporal structure of a narrow bandwidth attosecond extreme-ultraviolet （EUV） pulse. The method is based on the spectrum measurement of an electron generated by EUV photo-ionization interacting with a femtosecond laser field. The results of the study suggest that measurements should be taken at 0° or 180° with respect to the linear laser polarization. The method has a temporal measurement range of about half a laser oscillation period. The temporal resolution also depends on the jitter and control precision of the laser and EUV pulses.

Numerical simulations of strong-field processes in momentum space

The time-dependent Schrodinger equation(TDSE) is usually treated in the real space in the textbook.However,it makes the numerical simulations of strong-field processes difficult due to the wide dispersion and fast oscillation of the electron wave packets under the interaction of intense laser fields.Here we demonstrate that the TDSE can be efficiently solved in the momentum space.The high-order harmonic generation and above-threshold ionization spectra obtained by numerical solutions of TDSE in momentum space agree well with previous studies in real space,but significantly reducing the computation cost.

Comparative study on atomic ionization in bicircular laser fields by length and velocity gauges S-matrix theory

Ionization of atoms in counter-rotating and co-rotating bicircular laser fields is studied using the S-matrix theory in both length and velocity gauges.We show that for both the bicircular fields,ionization rates are enhanced when the two circularly polarized lights have comparable intensities.In addition,the curves of ionization rate versus the field amplitude ratio of the two colors for counter-rotating and co-rotating fields coincide with each other in the length gauge case at the total laser intensity 5×10^14 W/cm^2,which agrees with the experimental observation.Moreover,the degree of the coincidence between the ionization rate curves of the two bicircular fields decreases with the increasing field amplitude ratio and decreasing total laser intensity.With the help of the ADK theory,the above characteristics of the ionization rate curves can be well interpreted,which is related to the transition from the tunneling to multiphoton ionization mechanism.

Multiphoton quantum dynamics of many-electron atomic and molecular systems in intense laser fields

We present the recent new developments of time-dependent Schrödinger equation and time-dependent density-functional theory for accurate and efficient treatment of the electronic structure and time-dependent quantum dynamics of many-electron atomic and molecular systems in intense laser fields.We extend time-dependent generalized pseudospectral(TDGPS)numerical method developed for time-dependent wave equations in multielectron systems.The TDGPS method allows us to obtain highly accurate time-dependent wave functions with the use of only a modest number of spatial grid point for complex quantum dynamical calculations.The usefulness of these procedures is illustrated by a few case studies of atomic and molecular processes of current interests in intense laser fields,including multiphoton ionization,above-threshold ionization,high-order harmonic generation,attosecond pulse generation,and quantum dynamical processes related to multielectron effects.We conclude this paper with some open questions and perspectives of multiphoton quantum dynamics of many-electron atomic and molecular systems in intense laser fields.

Time-dependent variational approach to solve multi-dimensional time-dependent Schr?dinger equation

We present an efficient approach to solve multi-dimensional time-dependent Schr?dinger equation(TDSE)in an intense laser field.In this approach,each spatial degree of freedom is treated as a distinguishable quasi-particle.The non-separable Coulomb potential is regarded as a two-body operator between different quasi-particles.The time-dependent variational principle is used to derive the equations of motion.Then the high-order multi-dimensional problem is broken down into several lower-order coupled equations,which can be efficiently solved.As a demonstration,we apply this method to solve the two-dimensional TDSE.The accuracy is tested by comparing the direct solutions of TDSE using several examples such as the strong-field ionization and the high harmonic generation.The results show that the present method is much more computationally efficient than the conventional one without sacrificing accuracy.The present method can be straightforwardly extended to three-dimensional problems.Our study provides a flexible method to investigate the laser-atom interaction in the nonperturbative regime.

Photo-Ionization of Hydrogen Atom in a Circularly Polarized Standing Electromagnetic Wave

Applying time-independent non-perturbative formalism to the photo-ionization of hydrogen atom immersed in a strong circularly polarized standing electromagnetic wave, we calculate the shift of energy levels and the distortion of wave functions for the hydrogen atom, the ionization cross section induced by the standing wave, and the angular distribution of photoelectrons and obtain some interesting results.

Quantum interference of a time-dependent wave packet of atom irradiated by an ultra-short laser pulse

The wave packet evolution of an atom irradiated by an intense laser pulse is systematically investigated by using the numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation.There are two types of spatial interference structures in the time-dependent evolution of the atomic wave packet.With the increasing of the evolution time,the interference fringe spacing for typeⅠ(typeⅡ)becomes larger(smaller).As the wavelength of the incident laser increases,the interference of the wave packet is changed from typeⅡto typeⅠ,and the shift of interference type can be attributed to the contribution of excited states by using the energy analysis of the time-dependent wave function.

Manipulating Photoelectron Distributions for Rare Gas Atoms Ionized with Polarized Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Above-threshold ionizations of rare gas atoms excited by polarized femtosecond laser pulses are investigated.The photoelectron momentum spectra are obtained applying the strong-field approximation(SFA) theory.It is found that,distribution of the emitted photoelectrons varies with different polarizations of laser pulses.We have interpreted the relationship between the observed distribution and the laser polarization taking advantage of tunneling ionization theory and simple-man model.The polarization sensitivity indicates that one can easily manipulate the photoelectron distribution by controlling the polarization of the exciting pulse.