Above-threshold ionization with elliptically polarized light

Abstract

Above-threshold multiphoton ionization angular distributions have been studied for elliptical laser polarization in xenon and krypton. In contrast to previous linear and circular polarization studies, the angular distributions are strongly dependent on the order of the above-threshold-ionization peak, even for very high-energy electrons. This provides a new test for theories of atomic photoionization in intense laser fields. A standard nonperturbative model, when generalized to accommodate elliptical polarization, is found to yield angular distributions which are in reasonable accord with experimental results.