Validity of Factorization of the High-Energy Photoelectron Yield in Above-Threshold Ionization of an Atom by a Short Laser Pulse

Authors

M. V. Frolov, Voronezh State University, RussiaFollow
D. V. Knyazeva, Voronezh State University
A. M. Popov, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
O. V. Tikhonova, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
E. A. Volkova, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Ming-Hui Xu, Peking University
Liang-You Peng, Peking UniversityFollow
Liang-Wen Pi, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Anthony F. Starace, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

5-25-2012

Citation

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 108, 213002 (May 25, 2012); DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.213002

Comments

Copyright 2012 American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

An analytic description for the yield, P(p), of high-energy electrons ionized from an atom by a short (few-cycle) laser pulse is obtained quantum mechanically. Factorization of P(p) in terms of an electron wave packet and the cross section for elastic electron scattering (EES) is shown to occur only for an ultrashort pulse, while in general P(p) involves interference of EES amplitudes with laser-field-dependent momenta. The analytic predictions agree well with accurate numerical results.