Multiphoton ionization of atoms and ions by high-intensity X-ray lasers

Coulomb corrections to the action function and rate of multiphoton ionization of atoms and ions in a strong linearly polarized electromagnetic field are calculated for high values of the Keldysh adiabaticity parameter. The Coulomb corrections significantly increase the ionization rate for atoms (by several orders of magnitude). An interpolation formula proposed for ionization rate is valid for arbitrary values of the adiabaticity parameter. The high accuracy of the formula is confirmed by comparison with the results of numerical calculations. The general case of elliptic polarization of laser radiation is also considered.     

Delay-dependent amplification of a probe pulse via stimulated Rayleigh scattering

Stimulated Rayleigh scattering of pump and probe light pulses of close carrier frequencies is considered. A nonzero time delay between the two pulses is shown to give rise to amplification of the delayed (probe) pulse accompanied by attenuation of the pump, both on resonance and off resonance. In either case, phase-matching effects are shown to provide a sufficiently large gain, which can exceed significantly direct one-photon absorption losses.     

Strong field ionization by ultrashort laser pulses: Application of the Keldysh theory

Analytical expressions and numerical results describing ionization of atoms by intense linearly polarized ultrashort laser pulses are obtained in the frame of the Keldysh approach. Photoelectron spectra and total ionization probabilities are presented for several analytical models of a single-cycle laser pulse. In particular, strong left-right asymmetry of the spectra is shown for the case of odd pulses.     

Energy and momentum spectra of photoelectrons under conditions of ionization by strong laser radiation (The case of elliptic polarization)

Analytical and numerical studies are made into the momentum distribution and energy spectra of photoelectrons emitted during nonlinear ionization of atoms and molecules by laser radiation with elliptic polarization. The dependence of these distributions on the ellipticity ξ of an electromagnetic wave is treated, as well as their evolution upon variation of the Keldysh parameter γ from the region of optical tunneling (γ?1) to the region of γ?1, in which the ionization is multiphoton. The quasiclassical approximation is used in the calculations, in particular, the imaginary-time method and the saddle-point method with expansion in the vicinityof the field ellipse.     

Ionization of atoms and ions by intense laser radiation

The ionization of negative ions by ultrashort electromagnetic pulses, the multiphoton ionization of atoms beyond the perturbation theory taking into account the Coulomb interaction, and the relativistic theory of tunneling in application to the ionization problems have been analyzed. The main results have been obtained using the imaginary time method.     

Zeldovich's regularization method in the theory of quasistationary states

The complex quasienergy, including the level width Γ, is calculated for a loosely bound atomic state in an intense monochromatic laser field of circular polarization. The method proposed by Zeldovich for regularizing divergent integrals that involve the Gamow wave function is employed in this calculation. The convergence of the method is demonstrated, and the conditions of its applicability are indicated.     

Low-energy structures in strong field ionization revealed by quantum orbits

Experiments on atoms in intense laser pulses and the corresponding exact ab initio solutions of the time-dependent Schr?dinger equation (TDSE) yield photoelectron spectra with low-energy features that are not reproduced by the otherwise successful work horse of strong field laser physics: the "strong field approximation" (SFA). In the semiclassical limit, the SFA possesses an appealing interpretation in terms of interfering quantum trajectories. It is shown that a conceptually simple extension towards the inclusion of Coulomb effects yields very good agreement with exact TDSE results. Moreover, the Coulomb quantum orbits allow for a physically intuitive interpretation and detailed analysis of all low-energy features in the semiclassical regime, in particular, the recently discovered "low-energy structure" [C. I. Blaga, Nature Phys. 5, 335 (2009) and W. Quan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 093001 (2009).     

Electron–positron pair production from vacuum in the field of high-intensity laser radiation

The works dealing with the theory of e⁺e^– pair production from vacuum under the action of highintensity laser radiation are reviewed. The following problems are discussed: pair production in a constant electric field E and time-variable homogeneous field E(t); the dependence of the number of produced pairs \({N_{{e^ + }{e^ - }}}\) on the shape of a laser pulse (dynamic Schwinger effect); and a realistic three-dimensional model of a focused laser pulse, which is based on exact solution of Maxwell’s equations and contains parameters such as focal spot radius R, diffraction length L, focusing parameter Δ, pulse duration τ, and pulse shape. This model is used to calculate \({N_{{e^ + }{e^ - }}}\) for both a single laser pulse (n = 1) and several (n ≥ 2) coherent pulses with a fixed total energy that simultaneously “collide” in a laser focus. It is shown that, at n ? 1, the number of pairs increases by several orders of magnitude as compared to the case of a single pulse. The screening of a laser field by the vapors that are generated in vacuum, its “depletion,” and the limiting fields to be achieved in laser experiments are considered. The relation between pair production, the problem of a quantum frequency-variable oscillator, and the theory of groups SU(1, 1) and SU(2) is discussed. The relativistic version of the imaginary time method is used in calculations. In terms of this version, a relativistic theory of tunneling is developed and the Keldysh theory is generalized to the case of ionization of relativistic bound systems, namely, atoms and ions. The ionization rate of a hydrogen-like ion with a charge 1 ≤ Z ≤ 92 is calculated as a function of laser radiation intensity (F and ellipticity ρ.     

The above-threshold ionization spectrum in a strong linearly polarized laser field

We use the saddle-point method to derive analytical expressions for the spectral-angular probability distributions of the ionization by a strong linearly polarized laser field in Keldysh’s model that are valid for an arbitrary electron energy and adiabaticity parameter. We obtain asymptotic expansions of the general formulas in the multiphoton and tunneling regimes, analyze their accuracy, and formulate the validity conditions. We provide literal estimates of the parameters that characterize the properties and evolution of the distributions.