On the finite-size effects in two segregated Bose-Einstein condensates restricted by a hard wall

The finite-size effects in two segregated Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) restricted by a hard wall is studied by means of the Gross-Pitaevskii equations in the double-parabola approximation (DPA). Starting from the consistency between the boundary conditions (BCs) imposed on condensates in confined geometry and in the full space, we find all possible BCs together with the corresponding condensate profiles and interface tensions. We discover two finite-size effects: a) The ground state derived from the Neumann BC is stable whereas the ground states derived from the Robin and Dirichlet BCs are unstable. b) Thereby, there equally manifest two possible wetting phase transitions originating from two unstable states. However, the one associated with the Robin BC is more favourable because it corresponds to a smaller interface tension.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Probing molecular frame photoionization via laser generated high-order harmonics from aligned molecules

Present photoionization experiments cannot measure molecular frame photoelectron angular distributions (MFPAD) from the outermost valence electrons of molecules. We show that details of the MFPAD can be retrieved with high-order harmonics generated by infrared lasers from aligned molecules. Using accurately calculated photoionization transition dipole moments for fixed-in-space molecules, we show that the dependence of the magnitude and phase of the high-order harmonics on the alignment angle of the molecules observed in recent experiments can be quantitatively reproduced. This result provides the needed theoretical basis for ultrafast dynamic chemical imaging using infrared laser pulses.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Quantitative Rescattering Theory for high-order harmonic generation from molecules

The Quantitative Rescattering Theory (QRS) for high-order harmonic generation (HHG) by intense laser pulses is presented. According to the QRS, HHG spectra can be expressed as a product of a returning electron wave packet and the photo-recombination differential cross section of the {\em laser-free} continuum electron back to the initial bound state. We show that the shape of the returning electron wave packet is determined mostly by the laser only. The returning electron wave packets can be obtained from the strong-field approximation or from the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation (TDSE) for a reference atom. The validity of the QRS is carefully examined by checking against accurate results for both harmonic magnitude and phase from the solution of the TDSE for atomic targets within the single active electron approximation. Combining with accurate transition dipoles obtained from state-of-the-art molecular photoionization calculations, we further show that available experimental measurements for HHG from partially aligned molecules can be explained by the QRS. Our results show that quantitative description of the HHG from aligned molecules has become possible. Since infrared lasers of pulse durations of a few femtoseconds are easily available in the laboratory, they may be used for dynamic imaging of a transient molecule with femtosecond temporal resolutions.Comment: 50 pages, 15 figure

Benchmarking accurate spectral phase retrieval of single attosecond pulses

Citation: Wei, H., Le, A. T., Morishita, T., Yu, C., & Lin, C. D. (2015). Benchmarking accurate spectral phase retrieval of single attosecond pulses. Physical Review A, 91(2), 15. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.91.023407A single extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulse or pulse train in the time domain is fully characterized if its spectral amplitude and phase are both determined. The spectral amplitude can be easily obtained from photoionization of simple atoms where accurate photoionization cross sections have been measured from, e.g., synchrotron radiations. To determine the spectral phase, at present the standard method is to carry out XUV photoionization in the presence of a dressing infrared (IR) laser. In this work, we examine the accuracy of current phase retrieval methods (PROOF and iPROOF) where the dressing IR is relatively weak such that photoelectron spectra can be accurately calculated by second-order perturbation theory. We suggest a modified method named swPROOF (scattering wave phase retrieval by omega oscillation filtering) which utilizes accurate one-photon and two-photon dipole transition matrix elements and removes the approximations made in PROOF and iPROOF. We show that the swPROOF method can in general retrieve accurate spectral phase compared to other simpler models that have been suggested. We benchmark the accuracy of these phase retrieval methods through simulating the spectrogram by solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation numerically using several known single attosecond pulses with a fixed spectral amplitude but different spectral phases

Theory of high-order harmonic generation from molecules by intense laser pulses

We show that high-order harmonics generated from molecules by intense laser pulses can be expressed as the product of a returning electron wave packet and the photo-recombination cross section (PRCS) where the electron wave packet can be obtained from simple strong-field approximation (SFA) or from a companion atomic target. Using these wave packets but replacing the PRCS obtained from SFA or from the atomic target by the accurate PRCS from molecules, the resulting HHG spectra are shown to agree well with the benchmark results from direct numerical solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation, for the case of H$_2^+$ in laser fields. The result illustrates that these powerful theoretical tools can be used for obtaining high-order harmonic spectra from molecules. More importantly, the results imply that the PRCS extracted from laser-induced HHG spectra can be used for time-resolved dynamic chemical imaging of transient molecules with temporal resolutions down to a few femtoseconds.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

New determination of structure parameters in strong field tunneling ionization theory of molecules

In the strong field molecular tunneling ionization theory of Tong et al. [Phys. Rev. A 66, 033402 (2002)], the ionization rate depends on the asymptotic wavefunction of the molecular orbital from which the electron is removed. The orbital wavefunctions obtained from standard quantum chemistry packages in general are not good enough in the asymptotic region. Here we construct a one-electron model potential for several linear molecules using density functional theory (DFT). We show that the asymptotic wavefunction can be improved with an iteration method and after one iteration accurate asymptotic wavefunctions and structure parameters are determined. With the new parameters we examine the alignment-dependent tunneling ionization probabilities for several molecules and compare with other calculations and with recent measurements, including ionization from inner molecular orbitals

Analysis of Angular Dependence of Strong-Field Tunneling Ionization for CO₂

We analyzed the discrepancy of the angular dependence of strong-field ionization for CO₂ among the different theoretical calculations and experiments. Using a more accurate ground-state wave function of CO₂ in the asymptotic region, we showed that the accuracy in the earlier tunneling ionization theory of Tong et al. [Phys. Rev. A 66, 033402 (2002)] is much improved. We also concluded that the angular dependence deduced from the experiment of Pavicic [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 243001 (2007)] appears to be too narrowly distributed

Erratum: Determination of Structure Parameters in Strong-Field Tunneling Ionization Theory of Molecules (Physical Review a (2010) 81 (033423))

There are several errors in Tables V and VI of our article. In Table V, the C2m of the HOMO-1 (1π) of CO molecule should be 0.014. In Table VI, the binding energies of 2pπg and 2pπu of H₂⁺ should be 0.2267 and 0.4288, respectively

Potential for ultrafast dynamic chemical imaging with few-cycle infrared lasers

We studied the photoelectron spectra generated by an intense few-cycle infrared laser pulse. By focusing on the angular distributions of the back rescattered high energy photoelectrons, we show that accurate differential elastic scattering cross sections of the target ion by free electrons can be extracted. Since the incident direction and the energy of the free electrons can be easily changed by manipulating the laser's polarization, intensity, and wavelength, these extracted elastic scattering cross sections, in combination with more advanced inversion algorithms, may be used to reconstruct the effective single-scattering potential of the molecule, thus opening up the possibility of using few-cycle infrared lasers as powerful table-top tools for imaging chemical and biological transformations, with the desired unprecedented temporal and spatial resolutions.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure