Energy spectra of electrons emitted from laser irradiated low-density gas and the correspondence principle of electromagnetic interaction

Abstract

It is expected (Hora & Handel 1987) that the energy spectra of electrons emitted from laserirradiated atoms in low-density gases would be fundamentally different for laser intensities above and below the threshold of a correspondence principle. Below such a threshold, the emission is a quantum mechanical interaction while, in contrast, above the threshold it is a classical process. Both of our earlier experiments (Boreham & Hora 1979; Boreham & Luther-Davies 1979) and those of several others, including some very recent results (Monot et al. 1993) confirm—after some controversy—the existence of such a correspondence principle. Details are discussed.