Theory of the Photoelectric Effect Assisted by an Elliptically Polarized Laser Field

Abstract

The laser-assisted photoelectric effect in atomic hydrogen is investigated for linear, circular and general elliptic polarizations. The perturbative dressed state of the atom in an elliptically polarized nonresonant laser field is derived in the velocity gauge. The continuum state of the ejected electron is described by a Coulomb-Volkov wavefunction. Numerical results show that the ionization cross section by a vacuum ultraviolet photon is enhanced at high laser field intensities and low frequencies. At small and extremely large scattering angles (measured with respect to the wave vector of the incoming vacuum ultraviolet photon), the process for emitting a laser photon is predominant, while at medium angles, the result favours the process without a laser photon exchange. The dependence of the results on the laser polarization and on various geometries is studied, and an interesting pattern is found for the dependence on the frequency of the dressing laser; an intuitive explanation is offered.

Department(s)

Physics

Sponsor(s)

German Research Association
National Basic Research Program of China
National Natural Science Foundation (China)

Keywords and Phrases

Laser Pulses; Laser Theory; Polarization; Photoelectricity; Photoionization; Photons; Vacuum

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0953-4075

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2009 Institute of Physics - IOP Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2009

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