Trajectory-Resolved Coulomb Focusing in Tunnel Ionization of Atoms with Intense, Elliptically Polarized Laser Pulses

D. Shafir, H. Soifer, C. Vozzi, A. S. Johnson, A. Hartung, Z. Dube, D. M. Villeneuve, P. B. Corkum, N. Dudovich, A. Staudte

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In strong-field light-matter interactions, the strong laser field dominates the dynamics. However, recent experiments indicate that the Coulomb force can play an important role as well. In this Letter, we have studied the photoelectron momentum distributions produced from noble gases in elliptically polarized, 800 nm laser light. By performing a complete mapping of the three-dimensional electron momentum, we find that Coulomb focusing significantly narrows the lateral momentum spread. We find a surprisingly sensitive dependence of Coulomb focusing on the initial transverse momentum distribution, i.e., the momentum at the moment of birth of the photoelectron. We also observe a strong signature of the low-energy structure in the above threshold ionization spectrum.

Original languageEnglish
Article number023005
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume111
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Jul 2013

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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