Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) electron momentum distributions and energy spectra for multiphoton ionization of atoms by intense laser pulses, calculated by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) for different wavelengths and intensities, are compared to those predicted by the strong-field approximation (SFA). It is shown that the momentum spectra at low energies between the TDSE and SFA are quite different and the differences arise largely from the absence of a long-range Coulomb interaction in the SFA. We further found that the low-energy 2D momentum spectra from the TDSE exhibit ubiquitous fanlike features where the number of stripes is due to a single dominant angular momentum of the low-energy electron. The specific dominant angular momentum in turn has been found to be decided by the minimum number of photons needed to ionize the atom only. The electron momentum spectra predicted by models modified from the SFA are also examined and found to lack the fanlike features as in the SFA.

Department(s)

Physics

Comments

This work was supported in part by Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.

Keywords and Phrases

Feature Extraction; Ionization; Photoelectron Spectroscopy; Photons; Spectrum Analysis; Wave Equations, Coulomb Potential; Electron Momentum; Energy Spectra; Photoelectron Momentum Spectra; Single Ionization, Lasers

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1050-2947

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2006 American Physical Society (APS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Nov 2006

Included in

Physics Commons

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