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Han Xu

Publications and source records attributed to Han Xu.

131 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Transverse electron momentum distribution in tunneling and over the barrier ionization by laser pulses with varying ellipticity

We study transverse electron momentum distribution (TEMD) in strong field atomic ionization driven by laser pulses with varying ellipticity. We show, both experimentally and theoretically, that the TEMD in the tunneling and over the barrier ionization regimes evolves in a qualitatively different way when the ellipticity parameter describing polarization state of the driving laser pulse increases.

physics.atom-ph↗

Experimental observation of the elusive double-peak structure in R-dependent strong-field ionization rate of H2+

When a diatomic molecule is ionized by an intense laser field, the ionization rate depends very strongly on the inter-nuclear separation. That dependence exhibits a pronounced maximum at the inter-nuclear separation known as the critical distance. This phenomenon was first demonstrated theoretically in H2+ and became known as charge-resonance enhanced ionization (CREI, in reference to a proposed physical mechanism) or simply enhanced ionisation (EI). All theoretical models of this phenomenon predict a double-peak structure in the R-dependent ionization rate of H2+. However, such double-peak structure has never been observed experimentally. It was even suggested that it is impossible to observe due to fast motion of the nuclear wavepackets. Here we report a few-cycle pump-probe experiment which clearly resolves that elusive double-peak structure. In the experiment, an expanding H2+ ion produced by an intense pump pulse is probed by a much weaker probe pulse. The predicted double-peak structure is clearly seen in delay-dependent kinetic energy spectra of protons when pump and probe pulses are polarized parallel to each other. No structure is seen when the probe is polarized perpendicular to the pump.

physics.chem-ph↗

Carrier-Envelope-Phase Dependent Dissociation of Hydrogen

We studied dependence of dissociative ionization in H2 on carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of few-cycle (6fs) near-infrared (NIR) laser pulses. For low-energy channels, we present the first experimental observation of CEP dependence for total dissociation yield and the highest dwgree of asymmetry reported to date (40%). The observed modulations in both asymmetry and total yield could be understood in terms of interference between different n-photon dissociation pathways - n and (n+1) photon channels for asymmetry, n and (n+2) photon channels for yield - as suggested by the general theory of CEP effects (Roudnev and Esry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 220406 (2007), [1]). The yield modulation is found to be Pi-periodic in CEP, with its phase strongly dependent on fragment kinetic energy (and reversing its sign within the studied energy range), indicating that the dissociation does not simply follow the CEP dependence of maximum electric field, as a naive intuition might suggest. We also find that a positively chirped pulse can lead to a higher dissociation probability than a transform limited pulse.

physics.chem-ph↗