Dissecting Strong-Field Excitation Dynamics with Atomic-Momentum Spectroscopy

Abstract

Strong, focussed linearly-polarized infra-red fields electronically excite and accelerate atoms in the laser propagation and the transverse directions. We develop a numerically-tractable, quantummechanical treatment of correlations between internal and centre-of-mass (c.m.) dynamics, and apply it to the hydrogen atom. The propagation-direction c.m. momentum carries no information on the internal dynamics. The transverse momentum records the time spent in the field, allowing femtosecond reconstruction of the strong-field excitation process. The ground state becomes weakfield seeking, an unambiguous signature of the Kramers-Henneberger regime.

Quantum coherence in molecular photoionization

“…Here, we will concentrate on the vibrational motion, which occurs on the time scale closest to that of the electron dynamics. We will however note in passing that correlations between the centreof-mass motion and ultrafast electronic dynamics, which are routinely neglected in the attosecond domain, can offer a sensitive, non-destructive probe of the electron dynamics 35,36 .…”

“…We will however note in passing that correlations between the centre-of-mass motion and ultrafast electronic dynamics, which are routinely neglected in the attosecond domain, can offer a sensitive, non-destructive probe of the electron dynamics. 35,36…”

State distinguishability under weak measurement and post-selection: A unified system and device perspective

“…In this section we will introduce the model to describe the generalized measurement, where the internal degree of freedom of a system is coupled to a variable in configuration space. This coupling is quite general [44] and we will later specify the generic case of a two-level system coupled to its coordinate, e.g. a Stern-Gerlach type experiment.…”

Quantum-quasiclassical analysis of center-of-mass nonseparability in hydrogen atom stimulated by strong laser fields

“…al. [9], it was found that the non-dipole coupling in the hydrogen atom between the center-of-mass (CM) and the electron motions induced by external strong laser fields leads to a correlation between the CMvelocity distribution after the pulse action with the population of electron states induced by the field. Therefore, the authors of this paper suggest using this effect for detection of the internal electron quantum dynamics with CM-velocity spectroscopy.…”

“…The problem of accurate treatment of the non-dipole coupling of the CM-and relative electron-proton motions in a hydrogen atom effected by a strong laser field is rather challenging due to the 6D dimensionality of the problem and the smallness of the coupling effect which is of the order ∼ 1/c ∼ 1/137. In the work [9], the problem was simplified by reducing the dimensionality of the corresponding time-dependent Schrödinger equation to the 3D case with the use of an artificial confining potential for the atom. In the present work, we propose to avoid this drawback by applying our quantum-quasiclassical [1][2][3][4] approach to the 6D problem of a hydrogen atom in a laser field in which the electron motion is treated quantum mechanically and the CM variables classically.…”