Three-photon ionization of the potassium atom by linearly and circularly polarized light

The measurement and calculation results of the dependence of the three-photon ionization process of potassium atoms by linearly and circularly polarized light within the frequencies from 16300 to 16600 cm^-1 are presented. The experimental data do not confirm the predictions of perturbation theory on the existence of a window of nonlinear transparency for circularly polarized light.     

Multiphoton ionization of the hydrogen atom exposed to circularly or linearly polarized laser pulses

This paper studies the multiphoton ionization of the hydrogen atom exposed to the linearly or circularly polarized laser pulses by solving the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation. It finds that the ratio of the ionization probabilities by linearly and circularly polarized laser pulses varies with the numbers of absorbing photons. With the same laser intensity, the circularly polarized laser pulse favors to ionize the atom with more ease than the linearly polarized laser pulse if only two or three photons are necessary to be absorbed. For the higher order multiphoton ionization, the linearly polarized laser pulse has the advantage over circularly polarized laser pulse to ionize the atom.     

Backscattering of linearly and circularly polarized light in randomly inhomogeneous media

The scattering of linearly or circularly polarized light from a semibounded randomly inhomogeneous medium is considered. A new technique for simulating the electromagnetic radiation transport using the Monte Carlo method is proposed, which makes it possible to avoid cumbersome calculation of Muller matrices. Expressions are obtained for the co- and cross-polarized components of backscattered light for incident light of arbitrary polarization. The coherent and incoherent backscattering components are calculated for arbitrary combinations of incident and scattered light polarizations. It is shown that the main contribution to coherent backscattering is from the co- and cross-polarized components for linearly and circularly polarized light, respectively. The backscattering from an optically active random medium is calculated.     

Time-resolved backscattering of circularly and linearly polarized light in a turbid medium

Time-resolved backscattering profiles of circularly and linearly polarized light were measured from a turbid medium composed of small and large polystyrene sphere particles in water. It is shown that, based on the measurements of the time-resolved backscattered copolarized and cross-polarized components of the incident polarized light, either linearly or circularly polarized light can be used to effectively image an object that is deep inside a turbid medium composed of small particles, depending on the depolarization properties of the object itself. For large particles such as in tissue, fog, and clouds, the experimentally observed polarization memory effect on the backscattering temporal profiles suggests that a significant improvement in the image contrast can be achieved by use of circularly polarized light.     

Multiphoton ionization of the hydrogen atom by a circularly polarized electromagnetic field

This paper examines the multiphoton ionization of the ground state of the hydrogen atom in the field of a circularly polarized intense electromagnetic wave. To describe the states of photoelectrons, quasiclassical wave functions are introduced that partially allow for the effect of an intense electromagnetic wave and that of the Coulomb potential. Expressions are derived for the angular and energy distributions of photoelectrons with energies much lower than the ionization potential of an unperturbed atom. It is found that, due to allowance for the Coulomb potential in the wave function of the final electron states, the transition probability near the ionization threshold tends to a finite value. In addition, the well-known selection rules for multiphoton transitions in a circularly polarized electromagnetic field are derived in a natural way. Finally, the results are compared with those obtained in the Keldysh-Faisal-Reiss approximation. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 807–820 (September 1999)     

Backscattering target detection in a turbid medium by use of circularly and linearly polarized light

The polarization properties of the backscattered light from a turbid medium containing large-diameter (10.143-microm) and small-diameter (0.202-microm) spherical polystyrene particles are studied. It is shown that the difference in the polarization properties of the emerging light that originates at the target and that is backscattered from the medium allows for improvement of image contrast by use of polarized light. Based on the images obtained by the CCD camera, the polarization memory effect with circularly polarized light is demonstrated to have an advantage over the linear polarization technique in imaging a highly reflective target inside a turbid medium containing large particles.     

光强连续可调的圆偏振光衰减器

利用1/4波片及偏光棱镜,设计了光强连续可调的圆偏振光衰减器,通过该器件可获得偏振度高且光强连续可调的圆偏振光.该衰减器解决了632.8 nm多膜氦氖激光器出射光为非完全自然光且偏振面随时间做随机变化导致实验误差的问题,为偏光信息测试系统提供了相对稳定的激光光源.     

Bloch oscillations for circularly polarized light

All previous investigations on the Bloch oscillations of waves focus on scalar waves. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the existence of Bloch oscillations of vector fields for circularly polarized light (CPL) propagating through a designed liquid crystal structure. To obtain the Wannier-Stark ladder of the CPL, we have designed a cholesteric liquid crystal structure with spatially varying pitch. The Bloch oscillations of the CPL have been observed in such a structure by exact numerical simulations. We have also shown that such a phenomenon can be easily detected in time-resolved reflection experiments.     

共振线极化光实现原子矢量磁力仪的理论研究

共振线偏振光激发原子张量磁矩,本文理论研究在矢量磁场和射频场的共同作用下,张量磁矩进动的模型,求解刘维尔方程获得透射光时域完整解析解,包括直流、一次和二次谐波分量.研究发现:当进动的拉比频率Ω1/(22~(1/2))时,两谐波间的干涉效应使直流分量和一次谐波对称成分的单吸收峰劈裂成双峰,裂距((Ω~2+Ω~4-Ω~2-1)~(3/2))~(1/2),一次谐波反对称成分在共振处产生干涉条纹.研究结果显示,谐波间的干涉也可导致直流分量和二次谐波线宽仅为一次谐波线宽的38%,且存在磁场取向临界点,在不同的取向区间分别利用直流及两谐波共振信号辨析磁场变化,可获得最佳测磁灵敏度;同时还可通过共振时直流分量及两谐波对称成分振幅来确定磁场与激光极化方向的夹角,利用两谐波反对称成分相移的差值来确定待测磁场在垂直光极化方向投影与射频场方向的夹角,进而实现结构简单的张量磁矩进动型矢量磁力仪.这种磁力仪适合构成磁力仪阵列,可用于磁定位、水下磁异常源的检测和地磁导航等领域.     

Optimization of focusing of linearly polarized light

We show that, by adding a π-phase shift to one-half of a linearly polarized beam, the roles of the transversal and longitudinal field components of the focused beam are interchanged, resulting in better focusing of the longitudinal component in the direction perpendicular to the phase jump line. For this component the scheme produces a spot with FWHM >15% smaller than a spot generated with either linearly or radially polarized light for any NA. The scheme has a similar advantage when applied to circularly polarized light, and it holds for both a plane wave and a realistic case of a Gaussian incident beam. This technique may find applications when using recording media responsive to the longitudinal field only, particularly in read/write for optical storage where the resolution in one transverse dimension is most important.     

All-optical magnetic recording with circularly polarized light

We experimentally demonstrate that the magnetization can be reversed in a reproducible manner by a single 40 femtosecond circularly polarized laser pulse, without any applied magnetic field. This optically induced ultrafast magnetization reversal previously believed impossible is the combined result of femtosecond laser heating of the magnetic system to just below the Curie point and circularly polarized light simultaneously acting as a magnetic field. The direction of this opto-magnetic switching is determined only by the helicity of light. This finding reveals an ultrafast and efficient pathway for writing magnetic bits at record-breaking speeds.     

Molecular above-threshold ionization with a circularly polarized laser field

Molecular above-threshold ionization by a circularly polarized laser field is investigated. Our theoretical approach is based on the modified molecular strong-field approximation. Various gauge-dependent versions of this approximation are considered and homonuclear and heteronuclear molecular species characterized by different symmetries are used as targets. As in the case of a linearly polarized field, the imprint of the molecular multicenter structure can be observed in the above-threshold ionization spectra. It manifests itself as minima in the rate of the ionized electrons as a function of their energy. The locations of these minima are strongly influenced by the symmetry of the corresponding highest occupied molecular orbital as well as the internuclear separation. Analyzing the interference structures of the electron spectra one can obtain information about the molecular symmetry.     

Two-, three-, and four-photon ionization of Mg in the circularly and linearly polarized laser fields: Comparative study using the Hartree-Fock and model potentials

We theoretically study multiphoton ionization of Mg in the circularly polarized (CP) as well as the linearly polarized (LP) laser fields. Specifically two-, three-, and four-photon ionization cross sections from the ground and first excited states are calculated as a function of photon energy. Calculations are performed using the frozen-core Hartree-Fock (FCHF) and also the model potential (MP) approaches and the results are compared. We find that the MP approach provides results as good as or even slightly better than those by the FCHF. We also report the relative ratios of the ionization cross sections by the CP and LP laser fields as a function of photon energy, which exhibit clear effects of electron correlations.     

Photomagnetization of polydomain magnetic insulators by circularly polarized light

A new effect of magnetization of magnetic insulators due to light absorption by magnetic ions is proposed. The estimates for an yttrium ion garnet crystal are made.