Time–energy distribution of photoelectron from atomic states with different magnetic quantum numbers in elliptically polarized laser fields

Abstract

Abstract A Wigner-distribution-like (WDL) function based on the strong-field approximation (SFA) theory is used to investigate the ionization time of the photoelectron emitted from the initial states with different magnetic quantum number m in elliptically polarized electric fields. The saddle-point method is adopted for comparisons. For different m states, a discrepancy exists in the WDL distributions of the photoelectrons emitted in a direction close to the major axis of the laser field ellipse. Based on the saddle-point analysis, this discrepancy can be ascribed to the interference between electrons ionized from two tunneling instants. Our results show that the relationships between the tunneling instants and kinetic energy of photoelectrons are the same for different m initial states when the Coulomb potential is not considered. Our work sheds some light on the ionization-time information of electrons from different magnetic quantum states.