Effects of ultrashort laser pulses on angular distributions of photoionization spectra

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 6739 - 22
• Main Authors: Ooi, C. H. Raymond, Ho, W. L., Bandrauk, A. D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.07.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/624/1020/1088; 639/624/1020/1095; Adiabatic; Angular distribution; Humanities and Social Sciences; Ionization; Lasers; multidisciplinary; Polarization; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Splitting
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05915-8

We study the photoelectron spectra by intense laser pulses with arbitrary time dependence and phase within the Keldysh framework. An efficient semianalytical approach using analytical transition matrix elements for hydrogenic atoms in any initial state enables efficient and accurate computation of the photoionization probability at any observation point without saddle point approximation, providing comprehensive three dimensional photoelectron angular distribution for linear and elliptical polarizations, that reveal the intricate features and provide insights on the photoionization characteristics such as angular dispersions, shift and splitting of photoelectron peaks from the tunneling or above threshold ionization(ATI) regime to non-adiabatic(intermediate) and multiphoton ionization(MPI) regimes. This facilitates the study of the effects of various laser pulse parameters on the photoelectron spectra and their angular distributions. The photoelectron peaks occur at multiples of 2 ħω for linear polarization while  odd-ordered peaks are suppressed in the direction perpendicular to the electric field. Short pulses create splitting and angular dispersion where the peaks are strongly correlated to the angles. For MPI and elliptical polarization with shorter pulses the peaks split into doublets and the first peak vanishes. The carrier envelope phase(CEP) significantly affects the ATI spectra while the Stark effect shifts the spectra of intermediate regime to higher energies due to interference.