Helicity sensitive enhancement of strong-field ionization in circularly polarized laser fields

We investigate the strong-field ionization from p +/- orbitals driven by circularly polarized laser fields by solving the two-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation in polar coordinates with the Lagrange mesh technique. Enhancement of ionization is found in the deep multiphoton ionization regime when the helicity of the laser field is opposite to that of the p electron, while this enhancement is suppressed when the helicities are the same. It is found that the enhancement of ionization is attributed to the multiphoton resonant excitation. The helicity sensitivity of the resonant enhancement is related to the different excitation-ionization channels in left and right circularly polarized laser fields. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America