Abstract
Photoelectron momentum distributions of a hydrogen atom in an elliptically polarized laser field and a hydrogen molecular ion in a circularly polarized laser field are studied by simulating the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. We demonstrate that, in both systems, the Coulomb interaction between a liberated electron and its parent ion is essential for the photoelectron momentum angular drift in a laser polarization plane. By decomposing the wave packet into the rescattered and directly ionized components in the case of a hydrogen molecular ion, we reveal that the rescattered component drifts by a larger angle. The drift angle of the photoelectron of the hydrogen atom decreases monotonically with longer wavelength, while a nonmonotonic dependence is shown for . We attribute such nonmonotonicity to the fluctuation of the instant of ionization for as the laser wavelength is changed.
- Received 19 December 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.91.063413
©2015 American Physical Society