Wavelength Scaling of High-Harmonic Yield: Threshold Phenomena and Bound State Symmetry Dependence

Authors

M. V. Frolov, Voronezh State University, Voronezh 394006, Russia
N. L. Manakov, Voronezh State UniversityFollow
Anthony F. Starace, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

5-2-2008

Comments

Published in Physical Review Letters 100, 173001 (May 2, 2008). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.173001 Copyright © 2008 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Describing harmonic generation (HG) in terms of a system’s complex quasienergy, the harmonic power P_ΔE(λ) (over a fixed interval, ΔE, of harmonic energies) is shown to reproduce the wavelength scaling predicted recently by two groups of authors based on solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation: P_ΔE(λ) ~ λ^–x, where x ≈ 5–6. Oscillations of P_ΔE(λ) on a fine λ scale are then shown to have a quantum origin, involving threshold phenomena within a system of interacting ionization and HG channels, and to be sensitive to the bound state wave function’s symmetry.