Acceleration and twisting of neutral atoms by strong elliptically polarized short-wavelength laser pulses

Abstract

We have investigated non-dipole effects in the interaction of a hydrogen atom with elliptically polarized laser pulses of intensity 10$^{14}$ W/cm$^2$ with about 8 fs duration. The study was performed within the framework of a hybrid quantum-quasiclassical approach in which the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for an electron and the classical Hamilton equations for the center-of-mass (CM) of an atom are simultaneously integrated. It is shown that the spatial inhomogeneity $ \mathbf{k}\cdot\mathbf{r}$ of the laser field and the presence of a magnetic component in it lead to the non-separability of the CM and electron variables in a neutral atom and, as a consequence, to its acceleration. We have established a strict correlation between the total probability of excitation and ionization of an atom and the velocity of its CM acquired as a result of interaction with a laser pulse. The acceleration of the atom weakly depends on the polarization of the laser in the considered region (\mbox{5 eV $\lesssim \hbar\omega \lesssim $ 27 eV}) of its frequencies. However, the transition from linear to elliptical laser polarization leads to the twisting of the atom relative to the axis directed along the pulse propagation (coinciding with the direction of the momentum of the accelerated atom). It is shown that with increasing ellipticity the twisting effect increases and reaches its maximum value with circular polarization. At this point the projection of the orbital angular momentum acquired by the electron onto the direction of the pulse propagation reaches its maximum value. Further exploration of the possibilities for producing accelerated and twisted atoms with electromagnetic pulses is of interest for a number of prospective applications.