skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Controlling electron-ion rescattering in two-color circularly polarized femtosecond laser fields

Journal Article · · Physical Review A
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Colorado and NIST, Boulder, CO (United States)
  2. Univ. of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  3. Univ. of Tsukuba (Japan)
  4. Univ. of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Max-Born-Inst., Berlin (Germany)
  5. Max-Born-Inst., Berlin (Germany)

High-harmonic generation driven by two-color counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields was recently demonstrated experimentally as a breakthrough source of bright, coherent, circularly polarized beams in the extreme ultraviolet and soft-x-ray regions. However, the conditions for optimizing the single-atom yield are significantly more complex than for linearly polarized driving lasers and are not fully understood. Here we present a comprehensive study of strong-field ionization—the complementary process to high-harmonic generation—driven by two-color circularly polarized fields. We uncover the conditions that lead to enhanced electron-ion rescattering, which should correspond to the highest single-atom harmonic flux. Using a velocity map imaging photoelectron spectrometer and tomographic reconstruction techniques, we record three-dimensional photoelectron distributions resulting from the strong-field ionization of argon atoms across a broad range of driving laser intensity ratios. In combination with analytical predictions and advanced numerical simulations, we show that “hard” electron-ion rescattering is optimized when the second-harmonic field has an intensity approximately four times higher than that of the fundamental driving field. We also investigate electron-ion rescattering with co-rotating fields, and find that rescattering is significantly suppressed when compared with counter-rotating fields.

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). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-99ER14982; DGE-1144083; C24540421
OSTI ID:
1690340
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1252126; OSTI ID: 1690342
Journal Information:
Physical Review A, Vol. 93, Issue 5; ISSN 2469-9926
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 96 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (63)

Description and use of LSODE, the Livemore Solver for Ordinary Differential Equations report December 1993
Generation of bright phase-matched circularly-polarized extreme ultraviolet high harmonics journal December 2014
Bicircular-laser-field-assisted electron-ion radiative recombination journal November 2015
A new regime of nanoscale thermal transport: collective diffusion counteracts dissipation inefficiency text January 2014
Simulation of above-threshold ionization experiments using the strong-field approximation journal April 2007
Direct Visualization of Laser-Driven Electron Multiple Scattering and Tunneling Distance in Strong-Field Ionization journal August 2012
Imaging an aligned polyatomic molecule with laser-induced electron diffraction text January 2015
Non-collinear generation of angularly isolated circularly polarized high harmonics journal September 2015
Momentum space tomographic imaging of photoelectrons journal September 2009
Laser-induced electron diffraction: a new tool for probing ultrafast molecular dynamics journal September 1996
Plateau in above threshold ionization spectra journal May 1994
Polarization-dependent high-order two-color mixing journal May 1995
Imaging an aligned polyatomic molecule with laser-induced electron diffraction journal June 2015
Attosecond pulse trains with unusual nonlinear polarization journal June 2000
Controlling harmonic generation in molecules with intense laser and static magnetic fields: Orientation effects journal October 2003
Imaging ultrafast molecular dynamics with laser-induced electron diffraction journal March 2012
A new regime of nanoscale thermal transport: Collective diffusion increases dissipation efficiency journal March 2015
Electron Rescattering in a Bicircular Laser Field journal April 2017
Generation of Bright Isolated Attosecond Soft X-Ray Pulses Driven by Multi-Cycle Mid-Infrared Lasers conference January 2014
Full field tabletop EUV coherent diffractive imaging in a transmission geometry journal January 2013
Electron rescattering in a bicircular laser field journal January 2016
Ultraviolet surprise: Efficient soft x-ray high-harmonic generation in multiply ionized plasmas journal December 2015
Scaling of the Low-Energy Structure in Above-Threshold Ionization in the Tunneling Regime: Theory and Experiment journal January 2013
Strong-field rescattering physics—self-imaging of a molecule by its own electrons journal June 2010
Energy- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectra of above-threshold ionization and detachment journal July 2008
scikit-image: image processing in Python journal January 2014
Above-threshold ionization for very low electron energy journal June 2015
Strong-field ionization with two-color circularly polarized laser fields journal March 2015
Bright, Coherent, Ultrafast Soft X-Ray Harmonics Spanning the Water Window from a Tabletop Light Source journal October 2010
A table-top ultrashort light source in the extreme ultraviolet for circular dichroism experiments journal December 2014
The attosecond nonlinear optics of bright coherent X-ray generation journal November 2010
Attosecond-magnetic-field-pulse generation by electronic currents in bichromatic circularly polarized UV laser fields journal December 2015
Bright Coherent Ultrahigh Harmonics in the keV X-ray Regime from Mid-Infrared Femtosecond Lasers journal June 2012
Generation of bright isolated attosecond soft X-ray pulses driven by multicycle midinfrared lasers journal May 2014
Generation of circularly polarized multiple high-order harmonic emission from two-color crossed laser beams journal October 1998
Bright, Coherent, Ultrafast Soft X-Ray Harmonics Spanning the Water Window from a Tabletop Light Source text January 2010
Diffraction using laser-driven broadband electron wave packets journal August 2014
Above-threshold detachment by a two-color bicircular laser field journal April 2007
Phase matching of high harmonic generation in the soft and hard X-ray regions of the spectrum journal June 2009
Phase-dependent atomic ionization in few-cycle intense laser fields journal September 2006
High contrast 3D imaging of surfaces near the wavelength limit using tabletop EUV ptychography journal November 2015
Ultrafast Demagnetization Measurements Using Extreme Ultraviolet Light: Comparison of Electronic and Magnetic Contributions journal January 2012
Elastic Rescattering in the Strong Field Tunneling Limit journal December 1996
Tabletop Nanometer Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging in an Extended Reflection Mode using Coherent Fresnel Ptychography preprint January 2013
Bright circularly polarized soft X-ray high harmonics for X-ray magnetic circular dichroism journal November 2015
Velocity map imaging of ions and electrons using electrostatic lenses: Application in photoelectron and photofragment ion imaging of molecular oxygen journal September 1997
Tabletop nanometer extreme ultraviolet imaging in an extended reflection mode using coherent Fresnel ptychography journal January 2014
Spin angular momentum and tunable polarization in high-harmonic generation journal June 2014
Energy and angular electron spectra for the tunnel ionization of atoms by strong low-frequency radiation journal January 1991
Intensity-dependent scattering rings in high order above-threshold ionization journal December 1993
Free-Free Transitions Following Six-Photon Ionization of Xenon Atoms journal April 1979
Plasma perspective on strong field multiphoton ionization journal September 1993
Strong-field photoionization revisited journal March 2009
Python for Scientific Computing journal January 2007
Phase-Matched Generation of Coherent Soft X-rays journal May 1998
Generation of Bright Isolated Attosecond Soft X-Ray Pulses Driven by Multi-Cycle Mid-Infrared Lasers text January 2014
Ultrafast element-specific magnetization dynamics of complex magnetic materials on a table-top journal August 2013
Model calculations of polarization-dependent two-color high-harmonic generation journal September 1995
Controlling the Competition between Optically Induced Ultrafast Spin-Flip Scattering and Spin Transport in Magnetic Multilayers journal May 2013
Generation of circularly polarized high-order harmonics by two-color coplanar field mixing journal May 2000
Precision Measurement of Strong Field Double Ionization of Helium journal August 1994
Laser-Induced Electron Diffraction for Probing Rare Gas Atoms journal December 2012
Studies of multiphoton production of vacuum-ultraviolet radiation in the rare gases journal January 1987

Cited By (15)

Two-dimensional photoelectron holography in strong-field tunneling ionization by counter rotating two-color circularly polarized laser pulses journal January 2019
Circularly polarized attosecond pulse generation and applications to ultrafast magnetism journal November 2017
Elements of the quantitative rescattering theory journal April 2018
High harmonic generation with Laguerre–Gaussian beams text January 2019
Photoelectron-momentum distribution of H 2 + molecules at different internuclear distances in an elliptically polarized laser field journal July 2018
Channel-closing effects in strong-field ionization by a bicircular field journal February 2018
High harmonic generation with Laguerre–Gaussian beams journal July 2019
Molecules in a bicircular strong laser field journal April 2018
Study of the circular dichroism of He + ion journal January 2019
Symmetry in circularly polarized molecular high-order harmonic generation with intense bicircular laser pulses journal February 2018
Probing atomic and molecular targets by intense bicircular counter-rotating laser fields journal June 2018
Helicity asymmetry in strong-field ionization of atoms by a bicircular laser field journal January 2018
Quantum interference in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization journal September 2017
Nonsequential double ionization by co-rotating two-color circularly polarized laser fields journal January 2019
Non-Sequential Double Ionization by Counter Rotating Circularly Polarized Two-Color Laser Fields text January 2016