椭圆偏振激光脉冲驱动的氩原子非次序双电离

利用经典系综模型研究了椭圆偏振激光脉冲驱动的氩原子非次序双电离.计算结果表明,非次序双电离产率随着椭偏率的增大而减小;双电离得到的电子对在激光偏振平面长轴方向的末态关联动量谱呈现正关联,在激光偏振平面短轴方向的末态关联动量谱呈现反关联;Ar²⁺在激光偏振平面短轴方向的末态动量谱呈现单峰结构,并且随着椭偏率增大而变宽.轨迹分析显示,椭圆偏振激光脉冲驱动下,非次序双电离仍然是通过再碰撞而发生;随着椭偏率的增大,有效碰撞和单电离之间的时间延迟增加,这是因为椭偏率较大时第一个电子需要经过多次往返才能与母核离子发生有效碰撞.     

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.     

椭圆偏振激光脉冲驱动的氩原子非次序双电离对激光强度的依赖

利用经典系综模型研究了椭圆偏振激光脉冲驱动的氩原子非次序双电离对激光强度的依赖.计算结果显示,沿激光偏振平面长轴方向,电子对的关联行为依赖于激光强度,在较高的激光强度下,关联电子对的动量谱呈正关联,并且在一、三象限呈现明显的V-型结构.在较低的激光强度下,关联电子对的动量谱呈强烈的反关联行为.在激光偏振平面短轴方向,关联电子对的动量谱在不同的激光强度下均呈现强烈的反关联行为.通过分析非次序双电离的经典运动轨迹,证明末态电子之间的排斥作用对关联电子动量谱在激光偏振平面长轴方向的V-型结构,以及短轴方向的反关联行为起决定性作用.     

Recollision dynamics and phase diagram for nonsequential double ionization with circularly polarized laser fields

A semiclassical quasistatic model is used to investigate the recollision dynamics in circularly polarized laser fields. A velocity window for recollision to occur is found. Only when the return electron's orbits are irregular does significant double ionization take place. The model reproduces the experimental results for magnesium and explains the apparently conflicting experimental results in terms of an analytical formula that demarcates the phase diagram for the nonsequential double ionization in circularly polarized laser fields.     

Effect of electron excitation in nonsequential double ionization by intense laser fields

We study the double ionization process of atoms in intense laser fields. The momentum distributions of the correlated electrons are calculated. Contrary to the general expectation, we show an increasing proportion of the electrons ionized via excitation with the increasing laser intensity. These electrons generally have small energy thus they concentratedly distribute on the central region of the momentum diagram. Consequently, the central part of the momentum diagram becomes more notable in higher intensity laser fields. Further study suggests that this phenomenon is general in double ionization.     

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.     

Bifurcation of ion momentum distributions in sequential double ionization by elliptically polarized laser pulses

Using a fully classical model, we have studied sequential double ionization (SDI) of argon driven by elliptically polarized laser pulses at intensities well in the over-barrier ionization region. The results show that the width of the ion momentum along the major elliptical axis increases with the ellipticity while that in the laser propagation direction decreases with the ellipticity. The ion momentum in the minor elliptical axis bifurcates from one peak structure to three-peak, then to four-peak, finally to six-peak structure. Analysis shows that this ellipticity dependence of the ion momentum distribution is a result of the subcycle nature of the ionization dynamics in SDI. By changing the ellipticity and wavelength of the driving pulses, this subcycle ionization dynamics is more observable. This provides a simple and efficient way to study the subcycle ionization dynamics in strong field processes.     

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.     

Extreme-ultraviolet harmonic generation near 13 nm with a two-color elliptically polarized laser field

Theoretical results for high-harmonic generation by a two-color elliptically polarized laser field are presented. Special emphasis is placed on coherent radiation near 13 nm in connection with the development of extreme-ultraviolet lithography. Linearly polarized radiation at this wavelength can be obtained with a linearly polarized bichromatic laser field, whereas circularly polarized radiation can be generated with a bichromatic circularly polarized field with counterrotating coplanar components. In both cases the harmonic emission efficiencies at the saturation intensity are more than 1 order of magnitude larger than for harmonic generation with a monochromatic linearly polarized field.     

Three dimensional alignment of molecules using elliptically polarized laser fields

We demonstrate, theoretically and experimentally, that an intense, elliptically polarized, nonresonant laser field can simultaneously force all three axes of a molecule to align along given axes fixed in space, thus inhibiting the free rotation in all three Euler angles. Theoretically, the effect is illustrated through time dependent quantum mechanical calculations. Experimentally, 3, 4-dibromothiophene molecules are aligned with a nanosecond laser pulse. The alignment is probed by 2D ion imaging of the fragments from a 20 fs laser pulse induced Coulomb explosion.     

The effect of electron initial longitudinal velocity on the non-sequential double ionization process in an elliptically polarized laser field

The effect of initial longitudinal velocity of the tunnelled electron on the non-sequential double ionization(NSDI) process in an elliptically polarized laser field is studied by a semiclassical model.We find that the non-zero initial longitudinal velocity has a suppressing effect on single-return collision(SRC) events in the double ionization process,more specifically,it results in an obvious reduction in the center part of the correlation momentum distributions in the direction of the major polarization axis(z axis) and makes the distribution of single-return collision in the minor polarization axis(x axis) become narrower.     

Trajectory analysis of few-cycle strong field ionization in two-color circularly polarized fields

Bichromatic circularly polarized fields provide a useful tool to probe the ionization dynamics.In this work, we compare the photoelectron momentum distribution in few-cycle bichromatic field of different helicities.The spectral features are analyzed with semiclassical trajectories derived from the strong field approximation.In particular, the interference fringes in momentum distribution are investigated by tracking the ionization time and tunneling exits of released photoelectrons.Different types of trajectories that contribute to the interference fringes are elucidated.     

Carrier-envelope-phase effect in nonsequential double ionization of Ar atoms by few-cycle laser pulses

A classical ensemble method is used to investigate nonsequential double ionization(NSDI) of Ar atoms irradiated by linearly polarized few-cycle laser pulses. The correlated-electron momentum distribution(CMD) exhibits a strong dependence on the carrier-envelope phase(CEP). When the pulse duration is four cycles, the CMD shows a cross-like structure, which is consistent with experimental results. The CEP dependence is more notable when the laser pulse duration is decreased to two cycles and a special L-shaped structure appears in CMD. Recollision time of returning electrons greatly depends on CEP, which plays a significant role in accounting for the appearance of this structure.     

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.     

Interpretation of momentum distribution of recoil ions from laser induced nonsequential double ionization

We show that the recently reported momentum distribution of recoil ions from laser induced nonsequential double ionization can be interpreted as a combined effect of interelectron correlation and final state field interaction ("Volkov dressing") of the two outgoing electrons. We also find a cutoff formula for the recoil momentum that gives the maximum momenta observed in the experiments.     

Evidence of potential change in nonsequential double ionization

Recently,the quantitative rescattering model(QRS)for nonsequential double ionization(NSDI)is modified by taking into account the potential change(PC)due to the presence of electric field at the time of recollision.Using the improved QRS model,we simulate the longitudinal momentum distributions of doubly charged ions He2+by projecting the correlated two-electron momentum distributions for NSDI of He onto the main diagonal.The obtained results are compared directly with the experimental data at different intensities.It is found that when the PC is considered,the width of momentum distributions reduces and the agreement between theory and experiment is improved.     

High-order harmonic generation of N2molecule in two-color circularly polarized laser fields

The generation of high-order harmonics and the attosecond pulse of the N_2 molecule in two-color circularly polarized laser fields are investigated by the strong-field Lewenstein model. We show that the plateau of spectra is dramatically extended and a continuous harmonic spectrum with the bandwidth of 113 e V is obtained. When a static field is added to the x direction, the quantum path control is realized and a supercontinuum spectrum can be obtained, which is beneficial to obtain a shorter attosecond pulse. The underlying physical mechanism is well explained by the time–frequency analysis and the semi-classical three-step model with a finite initial transverse velocity. By superposing several orders of harmonics in the combination of two-color circularly polarized laser fields and a static field, an isolated attosecond pulse with a duration of 30 as can be generated.     

Double ionization of helium interacting with elliptically polarized laser pulse by classical ensemble simulations

This paper uses the classical ensemble method to study the double ionization of a 2-dimensional (2D) model helium atom interacting with an elliptically polarized laser pulse. The classical ensemble calculation demonstrates that the ratio of double to single ionization decreases with the increasing ellipticity of the driving field. The classical scenario shows that there are hardly any e--e recollisions with the circularly polarized laser pulse. The double ionization probability is studied for linearly and circularly polarized laser pulses. The classical numerical results are consistent with the semiclassical rescattering mechanism and in agreement with the experimental results and the quantum calculations qualitatively.     

Subcycle electron emission in sequential double ionization by elliptical laser pulses

Using a classical ensemble method, we have investigated sequential double ionization (SDI) of Ar atoms driven by elliptical laser pulses. The results show that the ion momentum distribution of the Ar atoms depends strongly on the pulse duration. As the pulse duration increases, the ion momentum distribution changes from two bands to four bands and then to six bands and finally to an eight-band structure. Back analysis of double ionization trajectories shows that the variation of the band structure originates from pulse duration dependent multiple ionization bursts of the second electron. Our calculations indicate that the subcycle electron emission in the SDI could be more easily accessed by using elliptical laser pulses with a longer wavelength. Moreover, we show that there is good correspondence between the scaled radial momentum and the ionization time.     

静电场对强激光场非序列双电子电离的影响

利用半经典重碰模型计算并研究了He原子在强激光场与静电场的混合场下的非序列双电子电离过程. 由于静电场破坏了激光场电场的反演对称性，在平行于激光场偏振方向的He²⁺离子动量分布不再具有对称双峰结构. 由于超短脉冲具有相似的非对称性，研究静电场对原子在强场中非序列电离的影响，有助于分析超短脉冲非序列电离的过程，进一步了解非序列双电子电离的机理.