Slow Electrons Generated by Intense High-Frequency Laser Pulses

Journal Article · Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.153003· OSTI ID:21370742

Toyota, Koudai; Watanabe, Shinichi ^[1]; Tolstikhin, Oleg I ^[2]; Morishita, Toru ^[1]

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1. Department of Applied Physics and Chemistry, University of Electro-Communications, 1-5-1, Chofu-ga-oka, Chofu-shi, Tokyo (Japan)
2. Russian Research Center 'Kurchatov Institute', Kurchatov Square 1, Moscow 123182 (Russian Federation)

A very slow electron is shown to emerge when an intense high-frequency laser pulse is applied to a hydrogen negative ion. This counterintuitive effect cannot be accounted for by multiphoton or tunneling ionization mechanisms. We explore the effect and show that in the high-frequency regime the atomic electron is promoted to the continuum via a nonadiabatic transition caused by slow deformation of the dressed potential that follows a variation of the envelope of the laser pulse. This is a general mechanism, and a slow electron peak should always appear in the photoelectron spectrum when an atom is irradiated by a high-frequency pulse of finite length.

• OSTI ID: 21370742
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 15; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.153003; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANIONS
ELECTRONS
HYDROGEN
IONIZATION
LASERS
MULTI-PHOTON PROCESSES
PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
PULSES
TUNNEL EFFECT
CHARGED PARTICLES
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FERMIONS
IONS
LEPTONS
NONMETALS
SPECTROSCOPY