Dynamics of electron wave propagation in photoionization microscopy. I. Semiclassical open-orbit theory

Journal Article · Sat May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.81.053417· OSTI ID:21408854

Zhao, L B; Delos, J B ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187 (United States)

This is the first of two papers that develop theories and numerical methods for photoionization microscopy of hydrogen atoms in strong electric fields, in semiclassical and quantum-mechanical frameworks, respectively. In this paper, semiclassical open-orbit theory is presented to describe the propagation of outgoing electron waves to macroscopic distances. Spatial distributions of electron probability densities and current densities are predicted. The open-orbit theory, based on an assumption that electron waves propagate along classical paths from a pointlike source to a detector, provides a clear and intuitive physical picture to interpret structures of observed geometrical interference patterns in photoionization microscopy. We calculate photoelectron ejection of hydrogen atoms in electric fields, and comparison is made with quantum-mechanical results, which will be detailed in the second paper [Zhao and Delos, Phys. Rev. A 81, 053418 (2010)]. A strong quantum tunneling effect has been found. Such a tunneling effect should be visible in the experiment.

• OSTI ID: 21408854
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 81, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.053417; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ATOMS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
HYDROGEN
MICROSCOPY
ORBITS
PHOTOIONIZATION
QUANTUM MECHANICS
SEMICLASSICAL APPROXIMATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
TUNNEL EFFECT
WAVE PROPAGATION
APPROXIMATIONS
CALCULATION METHODS
DISTRIBUTION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
EVALUATION
FERMIONS
IONIZATION
LEPTONS
MECHANICS
NONMETALS