Optical-field ionization by femtosecond laser pulses of time-dependent polarization

Abstract

We theoretically study the optical-field ionization of a hydrogen atom by an intense femtosecond laser of time-dependent polarization, based on direct solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. In particular, we consider linearly polarized pulses in the broad sense whose plane of polarization rotates in time. The ionization rate depends on the rotation frequency of the plane of polarization, even though the temporal profile of field strength remains unchanged. © 2007 Springer-Verlag New York.