Helicity-dependent time delays in multiphoton ionization by two-color circularly polarized laser fields

By numerically solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation, we have investigated multiphoton ionization of hydrogen atom in the two-color circularly polarized (TCCP) laser fields consisting of a strong 400 nm and a much weaker 800 nm pulses. Due to the presence of perturbative 800 nm laser pulse, sideband peaks emerge between the above-threshold ionization rings in the photoelectron momentum distributions. Our numerical results show that the sideband peaks exhibit one-lobe structure in the co-rotating TCCP laser fields, while it displays the three-lobe structure in the counter-rotating TCCP laser fields. Moreover, the photoelectron yield of sidebands in the co-rotating TCCP fields is much higher than those of the counter-rotating TCCP fields. These phenomena could be well explained from the perspective of the photon-absorption channels via the selection rules. Interestingly, an obvious phase shift between the sidebands of different orders from the co-rotating and counter-rotating TCCP fields is observed. This shift indicates the helicity-dependent time delay in the one-photon continuum-continuum transition process.

Automated summary

The study investigates the multiphoton ionization of hydrogen atom in two-color circularly polarized laser fields, revealing distinct structures and intensities of sideband peaks under specific conditions, which can be explained by the selection rules of photon-absorption channels.