High Harmonic Generation via Continuum Wave-Packet Interference
Abstract
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) is investigated theoretically in the over-the-barrier ionization (OBI) regime revealing the strong signature of interference between two separately ionized and separately propagating free wave packets of a single electron. The interference leads to the emission of coherent light at a photon energy corresponding to the kinetic-energy difference of the two recolliding electron quantum paths, thus complementary to the well-known classical three-step picture of HHG. As will be shown by time-frequency analysis of the emitted radiation, the process entirely dominates the coherent HHG emission after the atomic ground state has been depleted by a strong field. Moreover, it can be isolated from the continuum--bound harmonics via phase-matching.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1007.1308,
title = {High Harmonic Generation via Continuum Wave-Packet Interference},
author = {Markus C. Kohler and Christian Ott and Philipp Raith and Robert Heck and Iris Schlegel and Christoph H. Keitel and Thomas Pfeifer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1007.1308},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures