arXiv subjects

Ingo Barth

Publications and source records attributed to Ingo Barth.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

How to generalize the Ehrenfest theorem and the uncertainty principle

The Ehrenfest theorem and the Robertson uncertainty relation are well-known basic equations in quantum mechanics. However, there exist problematic cases, where the Ehrenfest theorem and the Robertson uncertainty relation are not correct. These cases occur when the azimuthal angle in polar or spherical coordinates is used within these equations. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss a generalized Ehrenfest theorem and a generalized uncertainty relation which are still valid for these cases. Hereby, we define and use a mathematical operation called expectation commutator.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

The connection between Bohmian mechanics and many-particle quantum hydrodynamics

Bohm developed the Bohmian mechanics (BM), in which the Schr\"odinger equation is transformed into two differential equations: A continuity equation and an equation of motion similar to the Newtonian equation of motion. This transformation can be executed both for single-particle systems and for many-particle systems. Later, Kuzmenkov and Maksimov used basic quantum mechanics for the derivation of many-particle quantum hydrodynamics (MPQHD) including one differential equation for the mass balance and two differential equations for the momentum balance, and we extended their analysis in a prework [K. Renziehausen, I. Barth, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2018, 013A05 (2018)] for the case that the particle ensemble consists of different particle sorts. The purpose of this paper is to show how the differential equations of MPQHD can be derived for such a particle ensemble with the differential equations of BM as a starting point. Moreover, our discussion clarifies that the differential equations of MPQHD are more suitable for an analysis of many-particle systems than the differential equations of BM because the differential equations of MPQHD depend on a single position vector only while the differential equations of BM depend on the complete set of all particle coordinates.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Ultrafast Preparation and Detection of Ring Currents in Single Atoms

Quantum particles can penetrate potential barriers by tunneling (1). If that barrier is rotating, the tunneling process is modified (2,3). This is typical for electrons in atoms, molecules or solids exposed to strong circularly polarized laser pulses (4,5). Here we measure how the transmission probability through a rotating tunnel depends on the sign of the magnetic quantum number m of the electron and thus on the initial sense of rotation of its quantum phase. We further show that the electron keeps part of that rotary motion on its way through the tunnel by measuring m-dependent modification of the electron emission pattern. These findings are relevant for attosecond metrology as well as for interpretation of strong field electron emission from atoms and molecules (6-13) and directly demonstrates the creation of ring currents in bound states of ions with attosecond precision. In solids, this could open a way to inducing and controlling ring-current related topological phenomena (14).

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Many-particle quantum hydrodynamics: exact equations and pressure tensors

In the first part of this paper, the many-particle quantum hydrodynamics (MPQHD) equations for a system containing many particles of different sorts are derived exactly from the many-particle Schr\"odinger equation. It includes the derivation of the many-particle continuity equations (MPCE), many-particle Ehrenfest equations of motion (MPEEM), and many-particle quantum Cauchy equations (MPQCE) for any of the different particle sorts and for the total particle ensemble. The new point in our analysis is that we consider a set of arbitrary particles of different sorts in the system. In MPQCEs, there appears a quantity called pressure tensor. In the second part of this paper, we analyze two versions of this tensor in depth -- the Wyatt pressure tensor and the Kuzmenkov pressure tensor. There are different versions because there is a gauge freedom for the pressure tensor similar to that for potentials. We find that the interpretation of all quantities contributing to the Wyatt pressure tensor is understandable but for the Kuzmenkov tensor, it is difficult. Furthermore, the transformation from Cartesian coordinates to cylindrical coordinates for the Wyatt tensor can be done in a clear way, but for the Kuzmenkov tensor, it is rather cumbersome.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Hole dynamics and spin currents after ionization in strong circularly polarized laser fields

We apply the time-dependent analytical R-matrix theory to develop a movie of hole motion in a Kr atom upon ionization by strong circularly polarized field. We find rich hole dynamics, ranging from rotation to swinging motion. The motion of the hole depends on the final energy and the spin of the photoelectron and can be controlled by the laser frequency and intensity. Crucially, hole rotation is a purely non-adiabatic effect, completely missing in the framework of quasistatic (adiabatic) tunneling theories. We explore the possibility to use hole rotation as a clock for measuring ionization time. Analysing the relationship between the relative phases in different ionization channels we show that in the case of short-range electron-core interaction the hole is always initially aligned along the instantaneous direction of the laser field, signifying zero delays in ionization. Finally, we show that strong-field ionization in circular fields creates spin currents (i.e. different flow of spin-up and spin-down density in space) in the ions. This phenomenon is intimately related to the production of spin-polarized electrons in strong laser fields [Barth I and Smirnova O 2013 Phys. Rev. A 88 013401]. We demonstrate that rich spin dynamics of electrons and holes produced during strong field ionization can occur in typical experimental conditions and does not require relativistic intensities or strong magnetic fields.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2013

Nonadiabatic tunneling in circularly polarized laser fields. III. Comparison with experiment

We compare results of the recent experiment by Herath et al [T. Herath, L. Yan, S. K. Lee, and W. Li, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 043004 (2012)] on strong-field nonadiabatic tunneling in circularly polarized laser fields with the original predictions of our theory [I. Barth and O. Smirnova, Phys. Rev A 84, 063415 (2011)] that stimulated these experiments. We show that the theory and experiment are in very good agreement. We also explain why the initial comparison performed by Herath et al [T. Herath, L. Yan, S. K. Lee, and W. Li, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 043004 (2012)] has suggested quantitative discrepancies with our theory. We confirm that these seeming discrepancies are removed with an accurate application of our theoretical model. We suggest an experiment for unique determination of the ionization preference of valence orbitals p+ or p-.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Spin polarized electrons produced by strong field ionization

We show that ionization of noble gas atoms by strong infrared circularly polarized laser field under standard exerimental conditions can yield electrons with up to 100% spin polarization in energy resolved measurements. Spin polarization arises due to the interplay of the electron-core entanglement and the sensitivity of ionization in circularly polarized fields to the sense of electron rotation in the initial state.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Nonadiabatic tunneling in circularly polarized laser fields: Derivation of formulas

We provide detailed analysis of strong field ionization of degenerate valence p orbitals by circularly polarized fields. Our analytical approach is conceptually equivalent to the Perelomov, Popov, and Terent'ev (PPT) theory and is virtually exact for short range potentials. After benchmarking our results against the PPT theory for s orbitals, we obtain the results for p orbitals. We also show that, as long as the dipole approximation is valid, both the PPT method and our results are gauge invariant, in contrast with widely used strong field approximation (SFA). Our main result, which has already been briefly outlined in [I. Barth and O. Smirnova, Phys. Rev. A 84, 063415 (2011)], is that strong field ionization preferentially removes electrons counter-rotating to the circularly polarized laser field. The result is illustrated using the example of Kr atom. Strong, up to one order of magnitude, sensitivity of strong field ionization to the sense of electron rotation in the initial state is one of the key signatures of non-adiabatic regime of strong field ionization.

physics.atom-ph↗