Direct Test of Laser Tunneling with Electron Momentum Imaging

Journal Article · Fri Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.105.133002· OSTI ID:21466979

Arissian, L ^[1]; Smeenk, C; Trallero, C; Villeneuve, D M; Staudte, A; Corkum, P B ^[1]; Turner, F ^[1]; Sokolov, A V ^[2]

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1. Joint Laboratory for Attosecond Science, University of Ottawa and National Research Council, 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa K1A 0R6 (Canada)
2. Department of Physics, Texas A and M University, College Station, Texas 77843 (United States)

Tunneling is often used to describe multiphoton ionization of rare gas atoms in infrared fields. We test the tunneling approximation and its nonadiabatic extension by measuring the unperturbed momentum distribution along the k direction of a circularly polarized light pulse. We find substantial, but not total, agreement between our results and the predictions of the model. As predicted, the k direction momentum distribution is Gaussian and its width increases with the square root of electric field strength. However, the width is 15% too large and we find no evidence of nonadiabatic effects as we approach the expected limits of the approximation.

• OSTI ID: 21466979
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 13; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.133002; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
APPROXIMATIONS
ATOMS
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
FORECASTING
INFRARED RADIATION
PHOTOIONIZATION
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
RARE GASES
TUNNEL EFFECT
VISIBLE RADIATION
ATOM COLLISIONS
CALCULATION METHODS
COLLISIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FERMIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
IONIZATION
LEPTONS
NONMETALS
PHOTON COLLISIONS
RADIATIONS