HARMONIC-GENERATION BY LASER-DRIVEN CLASSICAL HYDROGEN-ATOMS

TitleHARMONIC-GENERATION BY LASER-DRIVEN CLASSICAL HYDROGEN-ATOMS
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1992
BANDARAGE, G, Maquet, A, MENIS, T, Taieb, R, Veniard, V, COOPER, J
JournalPHYSICAL REVIEW A
Volume46
Issue1
Pagination380-390
Date PublishedJUL 1
ISSN1050-2947
Keywordspaper
Abstract

We present the results of our investigations of the dynamics of a classical hydrogen atom submitted to an intense classical radiation field with a relatively low frequency as compared to the characteristic Kepler frequency of the atomic system. We discuss here the harmonic spectra which can be deduced from a Fourier analysis of the time evolution of the strongly driven atomic dipole, associated either with a single trajectory or with ensembles of trajectories evolving from an initial microcanonical distribution. The spectra obtained from ensemble-averaged atomic dipoles qualitatively reproduce the main features of those recently observed in experiments and allow, in particular, discussion of the occurrence of a plateau in the distribution of harmonic intensities as a function of their order. The possible competition between harmonic generation and multiphoton ionization, which both take place in the same laser-intensity range, is also discussed.

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