Double ionization by strong elliptically polarized laser pulses

We join the tribute to Professor N.B. Delone in this memorial issue by presenting the results of new calculations on the effects of ellipticity on double ionization by short and strong near-optical laser pulses.     

Trident pair production in strong laser pulses

We calculate the trident pair production amplitude in a strong laser background. We allow for finite pulse durations, while still treating the laser fields nonperturbatively in strong-field QED. Our approach reveals explicitly the individual contributions of the one-step and two-step processes. We also expose the role gauge invariance plays in the amplitudes and discuss the relation between our results and the optical theorem.     

Coherent crystallization of bismuth under strong excitation by ultrashort laser pulses

By means of coherent control, fully symmetric bismuth phonons A _1og are investigated at helium temperature depending on the degree of crystal excitation. It is shown that coherent phonons with large amplitude show phase rigidity that is absent at small amplitude. Such a change in the phase properties of crystal lattice excitations can be understood using the concept of a coherent crystal, the achievement of which results from condensation of phonon modes arising with increasing degree of excitation.     

Ionization of clusters in strong x-ray laser pulses

The effect of intense x-ray laser interaction on argon clusters is studied theoretically with a mixed quantum/classical approach. In comparison to a single atom we find that ionization of the cluster is suppressed, which is in striking contrast to the observed behavior of rare-gas clusters in intense optical laser pulses. We have identified two effects responsible for this phenomenon: A high space charge of the cluster in combination with a small quiver amplitude and delocalization of electrons in the cluster. We elucidate their impact for different field strengths and cluster sizes.     

Numerical study on transmission of multimode laser pulses by dye molecules

A theoretical model and a numerical study of the transmission of multimode laser pulses by malachite green dye are presented. Excited state absorption is taken into account. The transmitted pulses exhibit increased intensity fluctuations moderated by the excited state absorption. Reference is made to recent experimental results.     

Field-free two-direction alignment alternation of linear molecules by elliptic laser pulses

We show that a linear molecule subjected to a short specific elliptically polarized laser field yields post-pulse revivals exhibiting alignment alternatively located along the orthogonal axis and the major axis of the ellipse. The effect is experimentally demonstrated by measuring the optical Kerr effect along two different axes. The conditions ensuring an optimal field-free alternation of high alignments along both directions are derived.     

Nonsequential double ionization of diatomic molecules by elliptically polarized laser pulses

Using the classical ensemble method, we investigate nonsequential double ionization （NSDI） of diatomic molecules by elliptically polarized laser pulses. The results show that the ellipticity of the laser field has a strong suppression effect on NSDI probabilities both in parallel and perpendicular alignments. The double ionization （DI） channel is commonly dominated by NSDI, and the NSDI channel changes with ellipticity. As ellipticity increases, more and more NSDIs occur through recollision excitation with subsequent field ionization （RESI）. Moreover, like the case of linear polarization, the two electrons involved in NSDI for perpendicularly aligned molecules are more likely to emit into the opposite hemispheres as compared to the case of parallel alignment. Additionally, this alignment effect increases as ellipticity increases.     

Long plasma channels and high-voltage discharges induced by strong picosecond laser pulses

The formation of long plasma channels and laser-induced high-voltage discharges are demonstrated by focusing infrared picosecond laser pulses in air. Based on measurements of the channel conductivity, the maximum electron density in excess of 1014cm-3is estimated. The plasma channels are good conductors, through which long-air-gap high-voltage discharges are triggered. The breakdown voltages show large drops but the discharging paths are not well guided: in this, the plasma spots distributed along the channel might play an important role.     

飞秒强激光场中的原子、分子——非微扰现象研究

文章简要回顾了飞秒强激光场中的原子、分子这一研究领域在近年来所取得的一系列里程碑式的重大发现,包括多光子电离、阈上电离、隧穿电离、越垒电离、非顺序双电离、电离稳定化、高次谐波发射等等非微扰现象.讨论了纯量子理论和纯经典方法在处理该类问题时经常遇到的困难.介绍了作者所在小组为此提出的半经典模型及其在解释强场物理现象时所取得的成果.最后对这一领域在未来几年内的可能发展方向作了简单的评述.     

Triple-ionization-induced dissociation of molecules in strong laser fields

We study triple-ionization-induced dissociation in diatomic molecules with different laser polarizations.     

Numerical investigation of atomic dynamics in strong ultrashort laser pulses

The algorithms for the numerical solution of the stationary and nonstationary Schrödinger equations that allow the analysis of the dynamics of single-electron atoms in the presence of an external strong linearly polarized electromagnetic field in the dipole approximation are presented. Several examples of the simulation of atomic dynamics in the presence of high-intensity laser fields are considered to illustrate the possibilities of the proposed algorithms.     

Above threshold Coulomb explosion of molecules in intense laser pulses

We have measured and explained a new mechanism of molecular ionization near the appearance intensity that produces a sequence of peaks in the nuclear kinetic energy spectrum separated by the photon energy. Our interpretation is based on an internally consistent model for the nuclear motion during an intense laser pulse. Within this model, the same concepts and language can be used for both dissociation and ionization, leading to a more unified understanding of the dynamics.     

Imprints of molecular orbitals using photoelectron angular distribution by strong laser pulses of circular polarization

We theoretically investigate the strong-field ionization of H+2 molecules in four different electronic states by calculating photoelectron angular distributions in circularly polarized fields. We find that the structure of photoelectron angular distribution depends on the molecular orbital as well as the energy of the photoelectron. The location of main lobes changes with the symmetric property of the molecular orbital. Generally, for molecules with bonding electronic states, the photoelectron's angular distribution shows a rotation of π/2 with respect to the molecular axis, while for molecules with antibonding electronic states, no rotation occurs. We use an interference scenario to interpret these phenomena. We also find that, due to the interference effect, a new pair of jets appears in the waist of the main lobes, and the main lobes or jets of the photoelectron's angular distribution are split into two parts if the photoelectron energy is sufficiently high.     

Tunneling ionization of air in the strong field of femtosecond laser pulses

The effect of the tunneling ionization of air excited by individual intense femtosecond pulses with subcritical peak powers has been investigated by the optoacoustic method. With an increase in the laser radiation intensity in the range of 0.5–20 PW/cm², the saturation of the amplitude of acoustic pressure with the corresponding decrease in the nonlinearity index of this dependence is observed. The analysis of the ionization of air molecules in the Ammosov-Delone-Krainov model of tunneling ionization predicts a weakly nonlinear increase and saturation of the yield of singly charged ions at an air ionization degree close to 50% under these conditions of the effect of femtosecond laser radiation.     

Selective steering of molecular multiple dissociative channels with strong few-cycle laser pulses

We report that multiple dissociative channels of carbon monoxide (CO) molecules are selectively controlled using intense phase-stabilized few-cycle laser fields (4.2 fs, 740 nm, 6×10(14) W/cm(2)). The controllable emission direction of C(2+) from charge asymmetrical dissociation and ionization of CO dications is out of phase in a linear polarized laser field. The strong coupling between the channels is explained as the competition of recollision excitation and recollision ionization in a recollision process, leading to the opposite asymmetrical property. The experimental result provides insight into high degree controlling molecular multiple dissociative processes in the time scale of electronic motion.     

TDDFT study of excitation of water molecules with short laser pulses

We explore the excitation of water molecules subject to short and intense laser pulses in the frame of time-dependent density function theory (TDDFT) at the level of the time-dependent local-density approximation (TDLDA), applied to valence electrons, coupled non-adiabatically to molecular dynamics (MD) of ions. We first study the optical absorption spectra of the water molecule as an observable in the "linear" domain and results are in good agreement with experiments. We then explore the influence of the laser frequency on the excitation. It is found that when the laser frequency is off-resonant or highly above the resonant region, the excitations are weak whereas for the resonant frequency case, the ionization is enhanced and bond lengths are enlarged. Furthermore, a direct coupling of ions with the laser pulse with the off-resonant frequency is found when investigating the OH bond lengths. We finally study the effect of laser intensity on the excitation of H 2 O and it is found that ionization increases when the laser intensity varies from low to high and we observe stable vibrations to Coulomb fragmentation when the ionization is up to typically two more charge units.