Computational Investigation of the Interaction Between Hydrogen Atoms and an Intense Circularly Polarized Laser Field

Abstract

AbstractThe study of interactions between a high-power laser and atoms has been one of the fundamental and interesting topics in strong field physics for decades. Based on a nonperturbative model, ten years ago, we developed a set of programs to facilitate the study of interactions between a circularly polarized laser and atomic hydrogen. These programs included only contribution from the bound states of the hydrogen atom. However, as the laser intensity increases, contribution from continuum states to the excitation and ionization processes becomes larger and can no longer be neglected. Furthermore, because the original code is not able to add this contribution directly due to its many disadvantages, a major upgrade of the code is required before including the contribution from continuum states in future. In this paper, first we deduce some important formulas for contribution of continuum states and present modifications and tests for the upgraded code in detail. Second we show some comparisons among new results, old results from the original codes and the available experimental data. Overall the new result agrees with experimental data well. Last we present our calculation of above-threshold ionization (ATI) rate and compare it with a pertuba-tive calculation. The comparison shows that our nonperturbative calculation can also produce ATI peak suppression.