Resolving Rydberg-Electron Recapture Dynamics via Laser-driven Frustrated Tunneling Ionization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Peng, Sainan, Chen, Yudong, Li, Yang, Fan, Guangyu, Xie, Xinhua, He, Feng, Tao, Zhensheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Peng, Sainan
Chen, Yudong
Li, Yang
Fan, Guangyu
Xie, Xinhua
He, Feng
Tao, Zhensheng
author_facet Peng, Sainan
Chen, Yudong
Li, Yang
Fan, Guangyu
Xie, Xinhua
He, Feng
Tao, Zhensheng
contents By employing two-color counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields, we investigate the dynamics of electron recapture into Rydberg states under strong, ultrashort laser pulses, probed via coherent extreme-ultraviolet free-induction decay (XFID). Our study reveals significant distinctions between XFID and above-threshold high-order harmonic generation in terms of their ellipticity dependence on the driving-laser waveforms, yield variations with the laser-intensity ratios, and sensitivity to the driving-laser ellipticity. All these differences arise from the fundamentally distinct electron trajectories underlying the two processes. More importantly, our findings provide compelling evidence that Rydberg-electron recapture predominantly occurs at the end of the driving laser field, offering the first direct experimental confirmation of this long-proposed mechanism.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_19007
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Resolving Rydberg-Electron Recapture Dynamics via Laser-driven Frustrated Tunneling Ionization
Peng, Sainan
Chen, Yudong
Li, Yang
Fan, Guangyu
Xie, Xinhua
He, Feng
Tao, Zhensheng
Optics
By employing two-color counter-rotating circularly polarized laser fields, we investigate the dynamics of electron recapture into Rydberg states under strong, ultrashort laser pulses, probed via coherent extreme-ultraviolet free-induction decay (XFID). Our study reveals significant distinctions between XFID and above-threshold high-order harmonic generation in terms of their ellipticity dependence on the driving-laser waveforms, yield variations with the laser-intensity ratios, and sensitivity to the driving-laser ellipticity. All these differences arise from the fundamentally distinct electron trajectories underlying the two processes. More importantly, our findings provide compelling evidence that Rydberg-electron recapture predominantly occurs at the end of the driving laser field, offering the first direct experimental confirmation of this long-proposed mechanism.
title Resolving Rydberg-Electron Recapture Dynamics via Laser-driven Frustrated Tunneling Ionization
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.19007