Isospectral Hamiltonians from Moyal products

Recently Scholtz and Geyer proposed a very efficient method to compute metric operators for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians from Moyal products. We develop these ideas further and suggest to use a more symmetrical definition for the Moyal products, because they lead to simpler differential equations. In addition, we demonstrate how to use this approach to determine the Hermitian counterpart for a Pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We illustrate our suggestions with the explicitly solvable example of the -x^4-potential and the ubiquitous harmonic oscillator in a complex cubic potential.Comment: 10 pages, to appear special issue Czech. J. Phy

Exploring symmetries in photoelectron holography with two-color linearly polarized fields

We investigate photoelectron holography in bichromatic linearly polarized fields of commensurate frequencies $r\omega$ and $s\omega$, with emphasis on the existing symmetries and for which values of the relative phase between the two driving waves they are kept or broken. Using group-theoretical methods, we show that, additionally to the well-known half-cycle symmetry, which is broken for $r+s$ odd, there are reflection symmetries around the field zero crossings and maxima, which may or may not be kept, depending on how both waves are dephased. The three symmetries are always present for monochromatic fields, while for bichromatic fields this is not guaranteed, even if $r+s$ is even and the half-cycle symmetry is retained. Breaking the half-cycle symmetry automatically breaks one of the other two, while, if the half-cycle symmetry is retained, the other two symmetries are either \textit{both} kept or broken. We analyze how these features affect the ionization times and saddle-point equations for different bichromatic fields. We also provide general expressions for the relative phases $\phi$ which retain specific symmetries. As an application, we compute photoelectron momentum distributions for $\omega-2\omega$ fields with the Coulomb Quantum Orbit Strong-Field approximation and assess how holographic structures such as the fan, the spider and interference carpets behave, focusing on the reflection symmetries. The features encountered can be traced back to the field gradient and amplitude affecting ionization probabilities and quantum interference in different momentum regions

High-harmonic generation from a confined atom

The order of high harmonics emitted by an atom in an intense laser field is limited by the so-called cutoff frequency. Solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation, we show that this frequency can be increased considerably by a parabolic confining potential, if the confinement parameters are suitably chosen. Furthermore, due to confinement, the radiation intensity remains high throughout the extended emission range. All features observed can be explained with classical arguments.Comment: 4 pages(tex files), 4 figures(eps files); added references and comment

Dissecting Sub-Cycle Interference in Photoelectron Holography

Multipath holographic interference in strong-field quantum tunnel ionization is key to revealing sub-Angstrom attosecond dynamics for molecular movies. This critical sub-cycle motion is often obscured by longer time-scale effects such as ring-shaped patterns that appear in above-threshold ionization (ATI). In the present work, we overcome this problem by combining two novel techniques in theory and experimental analysis: unit-cell averaging and time-filtering data and simulations. Together these suppress ATI rings and enable an unprecedented highly-detailed quantitative match between strong-field ionization experiments in argon and the Coulomb-quantum orbit strong-field approximation (CQSFA) theory. Velocity map images reveal fine modulations on the holographic spider-like interference fringes that form near the polarization axis. CQSFA theory traces this to the interference of three types of electron pathways. The level of agreement between experiment and theory allows sensitive determination of quantum phase differences and symmetries, providing an important tool for quantitative dynamical imaging in quantum systems.Comment: 13 Pages, 8 figure

Conservation laws for electron vortices in strong-field ionisation

We investigate twisted electrons with a well-defined orbital angular momentum, which have been ionised via a strong laser field. By formulating a new variant of the well-known strong field approximation, we are able to derive conservation laws for the angular momenta of twisted electrons in the cases of linear and circularly polarised fields. In the case of linear fields, we demonstrate that the orbital angular momentum of the twisted electron is determined by the magnetic quantum number of the initial bound state. The condition for the circular field can be related to the famous ATI peaks, and provides a new interpretation for this fundamental feature of photoelectron spectra. We find the length of the circular pulse to be a vital factor in this selection rule and, employing an effective frequency, we show that the photoelectron OAM emission spectra are sensitive to the parity of the number of laser cycles. This work provides the basic theoretical framework with which to understand the OAM of a photoelectron undergoing strong field ionisation

Controlling quantum effects in enhanced strong-field ionisation with machine-learning techniques

We study non-classical pathways and quantum interference in enhanced ionisation of diatomic molecules in strong laser fields using machine learning techniques. Quantum interference provides a bridge, which facilitates intramolecular population transfer. Its frequency is higher than that of the field, intrinsic to the system and depends on several factors, for instance the state of the initial wavepacket or the internuclear separation. Using dimensionality reduction techniques, namely t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding (t-SNE) and principal component analysis (PCA), we investigate the effect of multiple parameters at once and find optimal conditions for enhanced ionisation in static fields, and controlled ionisation release for two-colour driving fields. This controlled ionisation manifests itself as a step-like behaviour in the time-dependent autocorrelation function. We explain the features encountered with phase-space arguments, and also establish a hierarchy of parameters for controlling ionisation via phase-space Wigner quasiprobability flows, such as specific coherent superpositions of states, electron localisation and internuclear-distance ranges.Comment: 39 pages, 21 figure

Holographic detection of parity in atomic and molecular orbitals

We introduce a novel and concise methodology to detect the parity of atomic and molecular orbitals based on photoelectron holography, which is more general than the existing schemes. It fully accounts for the Coulomb distortions of electron trajectories, does not require sculpted fields to retrieve phase information and, in principle, is applicable to a broad range of electron momenta. By comparatively measuring the differential photoelectron spectra from strong-field ionization of N$_{2}$ molecules and their companion atoms of Ar, some photoelectron holography patterns are found to be dephased for both targets. This is well reproduced by the full-dimensional time-dependent Schr\"{o}dinger equation and the Coulomb quantum-orbit strong-field approximation (CQSFA) simulation. Using the CQSFA, we trace back our observations to different parities of the 3$p$ orbital of Ar and the highest-occupied molecular orbital of N$_{2}$ via interfering Coulomb-distorted quantum orbits carrying different initial phases. This method could in principle be used to extract bound-state phases from any holographic structure, with a wide range of potential applications in recollision physics and spectroscopy

Spatial configurations for a two-level atom in magneto-optical traps: ring structures

O principal objetivo deste trabalho e investigar teoricamente a variação de uma possível distribuição espacial para átomos de sódio confinados em uma armadilha magneto-ótica, quando os feixes laser aprisionantes nas direções x e y acham-se desalinhados formando um caminho fechado. Utilizamos um tratamento bastante simplificado, baseado em simulação numérica, no qual estes átomos são considerados como sistemas de dois níveis, observando estruturas em forma de anéis sem a necessidade de levar em conta efeitos coletivos. Este fato confirma os resultados experimentais obtidos por nosso grupo, onde os raios destas estruturas são independentes do número de átomos aprisionados. As simulações mostram efeitos de desbalanço de intensidade, falta de paralelismo e outros na distribuição em anel formada pelos átomos.The main objective of this work is to investigate theoretically the variations in a possible spatial distribution for sodium atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap when the laser beams in the x and y directions are misaligned in a closed-path configuration. We employ a simplified approach, based on numerical simulation, in which these atoms are considered as two-level systems, predicting the existence of ring-shaped structures without the necessity of taking into account collective effects. This fact confirms the experimental results obtained by our group, where the radii of these structures are independent of the number of trapped atoms. These simulations also exhibit effects due to intensity imbalance and lack of parallelism of the trapping beams, as well as other effects, which influence the ring-shaped distributions of the atoms

Spatial configurations for a two-level atom in magneto-optical traps: ring structures

O principal objetivo deste trabalho e investigar teoricamente a variação de uma possível distribuição espacial para átomos de sódio confinados em uma armadilha magneto-ótica, quando os feixes laser aprisionantes nas direções x e y acham-se desalinhados formando um caminho fechado. Utilizamos um tratamento bastante simplificado, baseado em simulação numérica, no qual estes átomos são considerados como sistemas de dois níveis, observando estruturas em forma de anéis sem a necessidade de levar em conta efeitos coletivos. Este fato confirma os resultados experimentais obtidos por nosso grupo, onde os raios destas estruturas são independentes do número de átomos aprisionados. As simulações mostram efeitos de desbalanço de intensidade, falta de paralelismo e outros na distribuição em anel formada pelos átomos.The main objective of this work is to investigate theoretically the variations in a possible spatial distribution for sodium atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap when the laser beams in the x and y directions are misaligned in a closed-path configuration. We employ a simplified approach, based on numerical simulation, in which these atoms are considered as two-level systems, predicting the existence of ring-shaped structures without the necessity of taking into account collective effects. This fact confirms the experimental results obtained by our group, where the radii of these structures are independent of the number of trapped atoms. These simulations also exhibit effects due to intensity imbalance and lack of parallelism of the trapping beams, as well as other effects, which influence the ring-shaped distributions of the atoms