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Title: Observation of ionization enhancement in two-color circularly polarized laser fields

Journal Article · · Physical Review A
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO (United States)
  3. Univ. of Tsukuba (Japan)

When atoms are irradiated by two-color circularly polarized laser fields the resulting strong field processes are dramatically different than when the same atoms are irradiated by a single-color ultrafast laser. For example, electrons can be driven in complex 2D trajectories before rescattering or circularly polarized high harmonics can be generated, which was once thought impossible. Here, we show that two-color circularly polarized lasers also enable control over the ionization process itself and make a surprising finding: the ionization rate can be enhanced by up to 700% simply by switching the relative helicity of the two-color circularly polarized laser field. This enhancement is experimentally observed in helium, argon and krypton over a wide range of intensity ratios of the two-color field. We use a combination of advanced quantum and fully classical calculations to explain this ionization enhancement as resulting in part due to the increased density of excited states available for resonance-enhanced ionization in counter-rotating fields compared with co-rotating fields. In the future, this effect could be used to probe the excited state manifold of complex molecules.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-99ER14982; SC0002002
OSTI ID:
1686157
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1373803; OSTI ID: 1690339
Journal Information:
Physical Review A, Vol. 96, Issue 2; ISSN 2469-9926
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 33 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (4)

Two-dimensional photoelectron holography in strong-field tunneling ionization by counter rotating two-color circularly polarized laser pulses journal January 2019
Channel-closing effects in strong-field ionization by a bicircular field journal February 2018
Study of the circular dichroism of He + ion journal January 2019
Helicity asymmetry in strong-field ionization of atoms by a bicircular laser field journal January 2018